Sentence:  [...] whether, however, two states with these respective ratios do not consequently sufficiently differ [...] as to warrant distinction in the <WSD>cartogram</WSD>, is open to question. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A map used to indicate geographically-bound statistical information, typically region-by-region values of a given variable, for example by using different shadings for different ranges of values.