Donald Trump may gain a leg up on his rivals from rules that grant outsized influence to Republican voters in deep blue congressional districts — rules originally intended to help Establishment-backed candidates.

These often-urban districts tend to contain moderate, wealthier voters compared to the conservative base located in red portions of the country. At one time, it looked like those rules could aid an Establishment favorite facing a strong insurgent candidate from the right. Sen. Marco Rubio, for instance, has shown more appeal to wealthier, better-educated voters than Trump. But with Rubio faltering, Trump has displayed more strength with the moderate wing of the party than Cruz.

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“If it’s a Trump vs. Cruz race, Trump might be able to use that to his advantage against Cruz,” said Josh Putnam, who teaches political science at the University of Georgia and writes a blog about the primary process.

The issue revolves around arcane rules, which vary from state to sate, governing how delegates to the national convention are awarded. Some states give all of the delegates to the candidate who receives the most votes. But many states award delegates proportionately, and in most of those, three delegates come from each congressional district.

If you are one of many Republicans in a heavily GOP district, your vote is worth less than if you live in a district dominated by Democrats.

That means if you are one of many Republicans in a heavily GOP district, your vote is worth less than if you live in a district dominated by Democrats.

Consider the 34th Congressional District in California. Based in Los Angeles County, it is one of the most Democratic districts in the country, according to the Cook Political Report. In 2012, only 5,462 Republicans voted in the primary for president. Contrast that with the 4th Congressional District along the Sierra Nevada Mountains, one of the state’s most Republican districts. In 2012, 93,603 people voted in the GOP primary.

Yet both districts produce the same number of delegates — three. An individual vote in the 34th District had about 17 times the weight of a vote in the 4th District.

[lz_table title=”Rotten Boroughs: GOP voters in Red vs. Blue districts” source=”State election boards 2012″]|Red California,
1st Cong. District,88757
4th Cong. District,93603
53rd Cong. District,66562
|Blue California,
34th Cong. District,5462
40th Cong. District,5851
44th Cong. District,6103
|Red New York,
24th Cong. District,12541
25th Cong. District,11631
29th Cong. District,14261
|Blue New York,
10th Cong. District,608
11th Cong. District,801
16th Cong. District,285
[/lz_table]

“This is something that’s been done for decades,” said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center. “This is something that’s done in red states and blue states … It certainly does, on the margins, give greater weight to people who live in blue districts.”

Olsen said it could matter in a very close contest. For instance, a conservative candidate who runs up large margins in conservative congressional districts could find himself losing to a more moderate candidate who wins with much smaller totals in the so-called “rotten boroughs.” In a close race, the moderate candidate could equal or exceed a conservative rival in delegates even if he gets fewer votes overall.

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As an illustration, consider California, which awards three delegates to the winner of each congressional district. If 85,000 people in the heavily Republican 4th Congressional District voted, and Candidate A received 45,000 votes, Candidate B got 20,000 and other candidates split the rest, Candidate A would wind up with three delegates.

But Candidate B could double that by winning narrow pluralities in a pair of heavily Democratic districts. Suppose he finished first with 2,500 votes in the 34th District, a majority-Hispanic district in downtown Los Angeles and Chinatown where 5,462 people voted in the GOP primary in 2012. And suppose his 2,500 votes were good enough to win in the 40th District, another overwhelmingly Hispanic district in Los Angeles that drew 5,851 Republican voters in 2012.

[lz_related_box id=”111994″]

Under that scenario, Candidate B would win a combined six delegates to three for Candidate A, despite receiving 40,000 fewer votes overall. Because California is a state with many overwhelmingly liberal congressional districts, it is theoretically possible that a candidate could win the most delegates in California despite winning fewer Republican votes than an opponent.

GOP officials defend the system, arguing that it ensures that Republicans in all parts of a state are represented at the convention.

“People live where they live. There’s not anything you can do about that,” Alabama Republican Party Chairwoman Terry Lathan said. “It might be a smaller number of voters … but it still gives them a voice.”