Single-Member Districts

Most legislators in the United States, including members of the House of Representatives, are elected from single-member districts by plurality vote. For the seven states currently entitled by population to only one representative—Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming—the entire state is the district and the candidates for the seat run at-large.

In the early nineteenth century, some states elected U.S. representatives from multimember districts. Congress banned the practice in 1842, however, when it decreed that no district could elect more than one representative. Some multimember districts or wards are still used in state and local elections. (See districts, wards, and precincts.)

The winner-take-all characteristic of congressional and other single-member elections stands in contrast to proportional representation, in which parties receive a share of the seats based on their share of the vote. Winner take all favors the two-party system because third parties have little realistic chance of sharing in the political power, and the major parties have little to gain by forming coalitions with weaker parties.

Racial and ethnic minorities generally prefer single-member districts over multimember districts covering a wider geographical area. A compact district that is predominantly African American has a better chance of electing a black representative than does a predominantly white district where candidates must run at large for two or more seats. The Supreme Court has frowned, however, on efforts to ensure minority representation by creating minority-majority districts through artificially contorted district lines. (See cumulative voting; racial redistricting.)

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