Congressional Districts,
Apportionment, and
Reapportionment
Meghan Fowler and Jane Kim
• 27d: Discuss the formation of
congressional districts,
including apportionment,
reapportionment, redistricting,
and gerrymandering as
mandated by the Baker v. Carr
(1962) decision
• 435 members in House of
Representatives
• Representatives numbers are set
by Congress according to the
1929 Reapportionment Act.
• Seats are apportioned- distributed
among States based on respective
populations
• Each state is guaranteed at least
one seat, no matter it’s population
• Representatives are chosen
every second year-stated in
Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of
Constitution
• No limit to number of terms
Congress member may serve
• Article 1 of the Constitution
makes Congress reapportion
seats in the House after each
decennial census.
• Reapportion: redistribute the
seats
• The first census in 1790
showed an increase in
population and in 1792, the
Congress increased the
number of House seats based
on population from 65-105.
• 1. It called for “automatic
reapportionment” – the
permanent size of the House
is 435 members (today each
seat represents about 750,000
people).
• 2. Following each Census, the
Census Bureau determines the
number of seats each State gets.
• 3. When the Bureau’s plan is
ready, the President must send it
to Congress.
• 4. If within 60 days of receiving it,
neither House rejects the plan, it is
effective.
•
Jack Kingston-R
• 2nd:Sanford Bishop-D
• 3rd:Lynn
• Westmoreland-R
• 4th:Hank Johnson-D
st
1 :
•
John Lewis-D
• 6th: Tom Price-R
• 7th: John Linder-R
• 8th:Jim Marshall-R
th
5 :
• 9th:Nathan Deal-R
• 10th:Paul Broun-R
• 11th: Phil Gingrey-R
th
• 12 :John Barrow-D
• 13th:David Scott-D
• Following the 2000 Census,
Georgia’s first attempt at
drawing the state senate was
thrown out for systematically
under populating the
Democratic-held seats and
systematically overpopulating
the Republican-held seats
throughout the state.
• State legislatures must be
apportioned according to
population and that each
person’s vote has roughly
an equal weight.
• A form of redistricting in which
electoral district boundaries
are manipulated for an
electoral advantage.
• Coined from the Governor of
Massachusetts, Elbridge
Gerry, who in 1812 drew the
State’s legislative districts to
favor the DemocraticRepublicans.
• Goal: to create as many “safe”
districts as possible-districts
almost certain to be won by
the party in control of the linedrawing process.
• 1. to concentrate the
opposition’s voters in one or a
few districts, thus leaving the
other districts comfortably safe
for the dominant party
• 2. To spread the opposition
as thinly as possible among
several districts, limiting the
opposition’s ability to win
anywhere in the region
• Changing of the electoral
districts usually in response to
periodic census results.
• This takes place by law or
Constitution at least every
decade to prevent geographic
malapportionment