<P> When Northern Ireland was established in 1921, it adopted the same political system then in place for the Westminster Parliament and British local government . But, the Parliament of Northern Ireland did not follow Westminster in changes to the franchise up to 1950 . As a result, into the 1960s, plural voting was still allowed for both Parliament and local government . This meant that in local council elections only ratepayers and their spouses, whether renting or owning the property, could vote while company directors had an extra vote by virtue of their company's status . University representation continued at Stormont to 1969, while it was abolished for Westminster in 1948 . Historians and political scholars have debated the extent to which the franchise for local government contributed to unionist electoral success in controlling councils in nationalist - majority areas . </P> <P> Based on a number of inequities, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was founded in 1967 . It had five primary demands, and added the demand that each citizen in Northern Ireland be afforded the same number of votes for local elections (national elections followed the same eligibility rules as the rest of the UK). The slogan "one man, one vote" became a rallying cry for this campaign . The Parliament of Northern Ireland voted to update the voting rules, which were implemented for the Northern Ireland general election, 1969 . </P> <P> The United States Constitution requires a decennial census for the purpose of assuring fair apportionment . Reapportionment has generally been conducted without incident with the exception of the reapportionment that should have followed the 1920 Census was effectively skipped pending resolution by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 . Congressional seats have been reapportioned based on population changes between states . State legislatures initially established election of congressional representatives from districts, often based on traditional counties or parishes which preceded founding of the new government . The question arose as to whether the state legislatures were required to ensure that congressional districts were roughly equal in population and to draw new districts to accommodate demographic changes . </P> <P> Some states redrew their U.S. House districts every ten years to reflect changes in population patterns; many did not . Some never redrew them, except when it was mandated by a change in the number of seats to which that state was entitled in the House of Representatives . In many states, this led to a skewing of influence for voters in some districts over those in others . For example, if the 2nd congressional district eventually had a population of 1.5 million, but the 3rd had only 500,000, then, in effect--since each district elected the same number of representatives--a voter in the 3rd district had three times the voting "power" of a 2nd - district voter . Alabama's state legislature resisted redistricting from 1910 to 1972 (when forced by federal court order). As a result, rural residents retained a wildly disproportionate amount of power in a time when other areas of the state became urbanized and industrialized, attracting greater populations . Such urban areas were under - represented in the state legislature and underserved; their residents had difficulty getting needed funding for infrastructure and services . They paid far more in taxes to the state than they received in benefits in relation to the population . </P>

In this case the supreme court established the principle of one person one vote