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Abstract

Ever since the United States Supreme Court entered the "political thicket" of redistricting and reapportionment courts and legislatures have been struggling with issues relating to the Court's mandate of "one person, one vote." The re-drawing of congressional and legislative district boundaries after the 1980 census was only the third time that district boundaries have been drawn according to the Supreme Court's mandate of "one person-one vote." This Article discusses the legal requirements of one person-one vote and the continuing evolution of the legal standards in this area. Part II analyzes the evolution of one person-one vote doctrine in the Supreme Court cases of the 1960's and 1970's. Part III discusses Round Three and focuses on the cases in state and lower federal courts. Included in this section are discussions of the New Jersey and Wyoming cases, the latest decisions of the Court on redistricting and reapportionment. Part IV examines several unresolved issues in the one person-one vote field, and concludes that the issues of gerrymandering and fine-tuning of the mathematics of one person-one vote should be confronted in the next round of redistricting and reapportionment cases.

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