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Allocation of seats by state, as percentage of overall number of representatives in the House, 1789–2020 census. United States congressional apportionment is the process [1] by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are distributed among the 50 states according to the most recent decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution.
The United States Constitution provided the first apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and stipulated that a Census (“enumeration”) of the population of the states must be made within three years of the first meeting of Congress. That first Census took place in 1790.
Titled, "The Apportionment of Members Among the States", the paper discusses how seats in the United States House of Representatives are apportioned among the states and compares the distinct reasons for apportionment for taxes and for people. Madison proposes that the "opposite interests" of states to both increase their population counts for ...
The basis for apportionment may be out of date. For example, in the United States, apportionment follows the decennial census. The states conducted the 2010 elections with districts apportioned according to the 2000 Census. The lack of accuracy does not justify the present cost and perceived intrusion of a new census before each biennial election.
Apportionment in the United States involves dividing the 435 voting seats every ten years. As per Article One of the United States Constitution , elections to the House of Representatives are held every two years, and the numbers of delegates are apportioned amongst the states according to their relative populations. [ 17 ]
In other words, a method is called unbiased if the number of seats a state receives is, on average across many elections, equal to its seat entitlement. [18] By this definition, the Webster method is the least-biased apportionment method, [19] while Huntington-Hill exhibits a mild bias towards smaller parties. [18]
Consider the reapportionment following the 2010 U.S. census: after every state is given one seat: The largest value of A 1 corresponds to the largest state, California, which is allocated seat 51. The 52nd seat goes to Texas, the 2nd largest state, because its A 1 priority value is larger than the A n of any other state.
The Congressional Apportionment Amendment (originally titled Article the First) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that addresses the number of seats in the House of Representatives. It was proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, but was never ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures.