malapportionment
Skewed electoral boundaries
Malapportionment is the unequal distribution of political representation relative to population.
When legislative districts contain vastly different numbers of voters, each vote carries unequal weight—a rural district with 10,000 residents has the same representative as an urban one with 100,000.
The term appears in discussions of redistricting, gerrymandering, and electoral fairness: The court struck down the state's malapportionment as unconstitutional.
Redrawing electoral boundaries
- gerrymanderingManipulating electoral boundaries strategically
- boundariesLines marking separation
- constituencyElectoral district's voters
- precinctAdministrative jurisdiction zone
ward · redraw · mapmaking · census · demographics · jurisdiction · quota · cracking
Insufficient proportional presence
- overrepresentationDisproportionately high presence
- electorateEligible voting body
- legislatureLawmaking governmental branch
- senateLegislative governing body
parliament · assembly · bicameralism · voting · electoral · democracy · constituency · suffrage
Lack of proportion
- skewnessDistribution asymmetry measure
- asymmetryAbsence of balanced form
- distortionTwisting from original state
- mismatchIncompatible combination
unevenness · lopsidedness · discrepancy · disparity · inequity · deviation · nonuniformity
Violating fundamental law
- litigationLegal dispute process
- judicial reviewCourts invalidating unconstitutional acts
- equal protectionUniform legal treatment
- justiciableAble to be adjudicated
court-ordered · remedy · compliance · landmark ruling · injunction · civil rights
redistricting
Redrawing electoral boundaries
- gerrymanderingManipulating electoral boundaries strategically
- boundariesLines marking separation
- constituencyElectoral district's voters
precinct · ward · redraw · mapmaking · census · demographics · jurisdiction · quota · cracking · packing
underrepresentation
Insufficient proportional presence
- overrepresentationDisproportionately high presence
- electorateEligible voting body
- legislatureLawmaking governmental branch
senate · parliament · assembly · bicameralism · voting · electoral · democracy · constituency · suffrage · enfranchisement
imbalance
Lack of proportion
- skewnessDistribution asymmetry measure
- asymmetryAbsence of balanced form
- distortionTwisting from original state
mismatch · unevenness · lopsidedness · discrepancy · disparity · inequity · deviation · nonuniformity
unconstitutional
Violating fundamental law
- litigationLegal dispute process
- judicial reviewCourts invalidating unconstitutional acts
- equal protectionUniform legal treatment
justiciable · court-ordered · remedy · compliance · landmark ruling · injunction · civil rights
- gerrymanderingpacking, cracking, redistricting, district lines, racial gerrymandering
- Redistrictingredistricting, gerrymandering, congressional districts, district lines, district boundaries
- votingballot, vote, voters, ballots, voter
malapportionmentequal representation
Balanced voice in governance
proportional representation · democratic representation · reapportionment · fair representation · equal suffrage
proportion, apportion, proportional, proportionate, disproportionate, apportionment, disproportion, reapportion, reapportionment