Equally Weighted Vote: Difference between revisions
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An Equally Weighted Vote is the concept that every vote should carry equal power or weight. In 1964, [https://www.oyez.org/cases/1963/22 Wesberry v. Sanders]
Votes can be unequally weighted at a number of different stages in the election process. First, a vote can be unequal due to the voting method itself. Any voting method which allows [[Vote-splitting|Vote Splitting]] ensures that voters do not have an equally weighted vote in elections which have more than two candidates. Second, votes for representatives to a larger geographical area who are representing a district within that area can be unequally weighted due to district lines which may bias an election in favor of one faction or another. When district lines are intentionally drawn in order to marginalize specific factions, (reducing the weight of those voters relative to others) it's known as [[Gerrymandering]].
The [[Electoral College]] and other mechanisms which use representatives to determine elections rather than directly using the votes cast also violate the Equally Weighted Vote
The 1964, [https://www.starvoting.us/equal_vote Wesberry v. Sanders]case cited above addressed Gerrymandering. In the case of district lines it's impossible to ensure that elections will not favor one faction or the other over time as populations grow and change, but it is "practicable" to prevent and mitigate this phenomena. However in the case of vote splitting and the Electoral Collage achieving a perfectly Equally Weighted Vote is fully possible.
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