Was it a creed, written into the founding documents?

Was it a creed, written into the founding documents?

A:

Yes, and it declared the destiny of a nation. "One person, one vote."

Actually, they didn't write it out like that back then (they were a bit more wordy). James "Jemmie" Madison, our fourth President and author of the Bill of Rights, wrote in Federalist #57:

"Who are to be the electors of the Federal Representatives? Not the rich more than the poor; not the learned more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names more than the humble sons of obscure and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States."

In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court specifically equated Madison's passage to the principle of "one person, one vote."

In that same opinion the Court mandated the equality of vote "weight":

"... The apportionment statute thus contracts the value of some votes and expands that of others. If the Federal Constitution intends that, when qualified voters elect members of Congress, each vote be given as much weight as any other vote, then this statute cannot stand.

We hold that, construed in its historical context, the command of Art. I, § 2 that Representatives be chosen 'by the People of the several States' means that, as nearly as is practicable, one man's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's."

The Equal Vote Campaign will make this principle real for the first time, not just in the weight of individuals' votes between districts, but in the mechanics of the vote itself.