One person, one vote: Difference between revisions
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{{wikipedia|One man, one vote}}
"'''One person, one vote
The British trade unionist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Howell_(trade_unionist) George Howell] used the phrase "one man, one vote" in political pamphlets in 1880.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Howell|first=George|date=1880|title="One man, one vote"|url=|journal=Manchester Selected Pamphlets|volume=|pages=|via=JSTOR 60239578}}</ref> During the 20th-century period of de-colonisation and the struggles for national sovereignty, from the late 1940s onwards, this phrase became widely used in developing countries where majority populations sought to gain political power in proportion to their numbers.
In the United States, the "one person, one vote" principle was invoked in a series of cases by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Court Warren Court] in the 1960s, during the height of related civil rights activities. Applying the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court majority opinion (5–4) led by Chief Justice Earl Warren in Reynolds v. Sims (1964) ruled that state legislatures, unlike the United States Congress, needed to have representation in both houses that was based on districts containing roughly equal populations, with redistricting as needed after censuses.<ref>"Reynolds v. Sims". ''Oyez''. Retrieved 2019-09-21.</ref><ref>Charlie B. Tyler, "County Government in the Palmetto State", University of South Carolina, 1998, p. 221</ref> Some had an upper house based on an equal number of representatives to be elected from each county, which gave undue political power to rural counties. Many states had neglected to redistrict for decades during the 20th century, even as population increased in urban, industrialized areas. In 1964, Wesberry v. Sanders, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that equality of voting - one person, one vote - means that "the weight and worth of the citizens' votes as nearly as is practicable must be the same." and ruled that states must also draw federal congressional districts containing roughly equal represented populations.<ref>"ONE MAN, ONE VOTE: DECADES OF COURT DECISIONS". ''New York Times''</ref>
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