Gray v. Sanders
Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368, was a Supreme Court of [the United States] case dealing with equal representation in regard to the American election system and formulated the famous "one person, one vote" standard applied in this case for "counting votes in a Democratic primary election for the nomination of a United States Senator and statewide officers — which was practically equivalent to election."
Background
James O'Hear Sanders, a businessman and voter in Fulton County, Georgia, brought a lawsuit which challenged the legality of the County Unit System. The suit, Sanders v. Gray, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the [Northern District of Georgia]. James H. Gray, the chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, was one of the named defendants as the suit focused on the Democratic party primary elections which usually determined the selection of Georgia officeholders.Sanders argued that the County Unit System gave unequal and preferential voting power to smaller counties. Rural counties, which accounted for one-third of Georgia's population, accounted for a majority of County Unit votes. Fulton County had 14.11% of Georgia's population at that time, but only 1.46% of the 410 Unit Votes. Echols County, Georgia, the smallest county in Georgia at the time, had 1,876 people or.05% of the state's population and.48% of the unit system. The system gave votes to Fulton County at a proportion of one-tenth the county population while giving Echols County a vote which was 10 times the population of the county.
In the Northern District of Georgia, Sanders v. Gray was heard by judges Elbert Tuttle, Griffin Bell, and Frank Arthur Hooper.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case despite having refused to hear previous challenges to the Unit System. Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, argued for the United States at oral argument.