Until 1964, state senators were often elected from districts that were based on county lines. Sometimes, many more people would live in one district than another. In almost all of the states, people in rural areas got much greater representation from their senators. In other words, an urban county and a rural county would have the same number of senators. However, the rural county would have far fewer people. This meant it was easier for these people to get attention from their senators, and get their senators to do what they wanted.