Evenwel, Voting Power, and Dual Districting

Paul H. Edelman

The Journal of Legal Studies, 2016, vol. 45, issue 1, 203 - 221

Abstract: I show that it is always possible to draw legislative districts that would be close in both total population and citizen voting-age population (or, indeed, any pair of populations that is desired). Thus, the Supreme Court need not choose between equalizing representation and equalizing voting power as it was asked to do in Evenwel v. Abbott. By example, I show that requiring equality of both total population and citizen voting-age population may, however, force the dilution of minority votes. Some of my analysis depends on how the Court chooses to assess the deviation in voting power. I derive the relationship between the deviation of voting power and the deviation of voting populations and show that the standard of 10 percent deviation in voting populations leads to a deviation of less than 10 percent in voting power over a broad range of models.

Date: 2016
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