ABSTRACT
Except for isolated cases of election fraud, and the systematic exclusion from voting of some group, each eligible voter can, if he wishes, cast one vote. We are here not concerned with the number of votes someone casts, but with how much weight or power his vote has. Ignoring the considerations which the Supreme Court says might justify deviations from equal weight (e.g., maintaining political subdivisions as the basis for electoral districts, achieving compact districts of contiguous territory) and ignoring some practical difficulties, one wants to equalize, 1 given appropriate 218measures of power, some function of the power of the legislator and of the power of the person to choose the legislator. If each person eligible to participate in choosing a given legislator has equal power in determining that choice, then one wants to equalize, for each i, Power of legislator L i Number of persons eligible to participate in choosing legislator L i . https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315128450/62589ea3-660c-4c1c-a435-241199c30ac3/content/math4.tif"/>
