onepersononevote

One person, one vote is a principle of representative democracy that seeks to ensure that all votes have equal weight in determining political representation. The idea aims to prevent malapportionment, where some citizens’ votes carry more influence than others due to uneven district populations or the distribution of seats. While the exact mechanisms vary by country, the goal is that districts or constituencies are drawn so that each vote counts roughly the same number of people.

In the United States, the doctrine is grounded in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and has been shaped by key court decisions. Baker v. Carr (1962) established that redistricting issues are justiciable. Reynolds v. Sims (1964) held that state legislative districts must be drawn with populations as equal as practicable, applying one person, one vote to state legislatures. Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) extended the standard to the U.S. House of Representatives. The method for counting population has been debated; Evenwel v. Abbott (2016) allowed states to base districts on total population or citizen voting-age population, within constitutional bounds.

Redistricting typically occurs after each decennial census to reflect population changes. The principle is central to debates over gerrymandering, district size, and balancing equal weighting of votes with geographic or community interests. Internationally, the concept exists in various forms, though different systems use different criteria and methods to achieve population parity among districts.