The House of Representatives
U NIT 5: NOT ES #1
CH. 10. 2
5/ 8/ 14
Size and Terms
 There are currently 435 members of the House
 This number is set by Congress
 Seats in the House are apportioned among states
based on their population
 Every state gets at least one seat

Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Vermont & Wyoming only have one seat
 The District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands
and America Samoa each elect a delegate

Puerto Rico chooses a resident commissioner
 House Reps serve two year terms
Reapportionment
 Article I directs Congress to reapportion the
seats in the House after each census (every 10
years)
 The Reapportionment Act of 1929

Created “permanent” size of the House to 435
 Each
seat represents about 650,000 persons
The Census Bureau is to determine the number of seats
each state should have
 President send Bureau plan to Congress
 If neither house rejects the plan it goes in effect in 60 days

Congressional Elections
 Since 1872, Congress has required that elections be
held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in
November of each even numbered year

Alaska could have theirs in October, but choose to use the Nov
date
 Elections that occur between presidential elections
are called off-year elections
 Usually the party in power loses seats in off-year
elections
Districts
 The 435 members of the House each represent a
congressional district
 States follow a single-member district arrangement

General Ticket elections were done away with in 1842
 The 1842 law made each state responsible for
drawing congressional districts within their state



It required the districts be made up on contiguous territory (all
one piece)
In 1872 Congress added that district have about the same
number of inhabitants
In 1901 Congress directed that all district be of “compact
territory” (small area)
Gerrymandering
 Districts that have been gerrymandered have been
drawn to the advantage of the political party that
controls the State’s Legislature
 Gerrymandering takes one of two forms:


Lines are drawn to concentrate the opposition’s voter’s in one
or a few districts
Lines are drawn to spread opposition as thinly as possible
among several districts
 Gerrymandering got its name from Governor
Eldridge Gerry of Massachusetts who in 1812 drew
districts to favor the Dem-Rep
Qualifications
 Formal Qualifications
 Must be at least 25
 Must have been a citizen for at least 7 years
 Must live in the state they are elected from

Should live in the district as well (custom)
 The Constitution makes the House “the Judge of the
Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its Own
Members”
 Informal Qualifications

Party Identification, name familiarity, gender, ethnic
characteristics and political experience