An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger
state (a
country,
administrative region
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
, or other
polity
A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...
) created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's
legislative body
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...
. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a
single member
A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vot ...
or multiple members. Generally, only
voters (''constituents'') who
reside within the district are permitted to vote in an
election held there. District representatives may be elected by a
first-past-the-post system, a
proportional representative system, or another
voting method. They may be selected by a
direct election
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots