When a governmental body decides to hold a popular election to select representatives from an individual district, the "one person, one vote" principle applies. This principle prevents dilution of a person’s fundamental right to vote because it requires that each district contain an equal number of people. Let’s examine this concept a little further.

In state and local elections, the number of persons within each district must be equal to the point that they are only a few percentage points off. It forces state and local governments to create their districts with almost exact mathematical certainly in order to make them all as equal as possible. On the other hand, the method used by the U.S. Congress is slightly more lax than the method used by states, and it is based more on good faith than on mathematical equality.

The "one person, one vote" principle does have one major exception, and this is when the election is a special purpose election. If there is an election in which an official is elected who does not exercise "normal government authority", but instead deals with matters that are of special interest within a specific community, then the "one person, one vote" principle does not apply.

An example of this would be special purpose elections in water storage districts, such as the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District, a public agency whose jurisdiction encompasses about 147,000 acres of land in Kern County, California. Here, it is possible that residents in water storage districts may only get to vote in the water board's elections if they own land, thus making the "one acre, one vote" principle applicable. It is important to note that the government is conditioning the right to vote on ownership of property, a restriction which is usually unconstitutional, unless it is a special purpose election.

Next, let’s look at the requirements in place when choosing to run for a government office.