single-member district

noun

variants or less commonly single-member constituency

: an electoral district or constituency having a single representative in a legislative body rather than two or more

In its first case declaring multimember districts unconstitutional in 1973, the Supreme Court declared that the Texas system of electing state representatives from county multimember districts, rather than single-member districts, discriminated against African-Americans and Latinos.

—Al Kauffman

compare multimember district

Examples of single-member district in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hofer, who previously taught political science at the University of Houston, was one of three researchers who released a white paper in 2018 looking at the trade-offs between at-large voting systems and single-member districts. —Silas Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Mar. 2024

Most districts across the country that have been ordered to change their school board election systems have adopted a single-member district model, in which voters elect candidates to represent their geographic areas, Levitt said. —Silas Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Mar. 2024

Now, it is also served by five single-member district trustees and two members who are elected by voters across the entire district. —Talia Richman, Dallas News, 18 Aug. 2023

The settlement agreement —announced Friday — lays out that the district will transition to five single-member districts and two at-large seats. —Talia Richman, Dallas News, 18 Aug. 2023

Jail a single-member district, ensuring those incarcerated would have their own, singular representative. —Time, 10 Aug. 2023

In keeping with Duverger’s Law, a single-member district, winner-take-all electoral system was always going to punish organizations that operated outside the mainstream and shrink the number of viable political parties. —Ross Barkan, The New Republic, 3 Aug. 2023

Alternatively, the state urged the justices to rule that Section 2 did not apply to single-member districts, the sole method by which Americans elect their House representatives today. —Matt Ford, The New Republic, 8 June 2023

Four council members are elected to represent single-member districts, and two council members and the mayor are elected at-large. —Haeven Gibbons, Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above