CH. 10-2 THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
SIZE AND TERMS
 435 Representatives—set by Congress
 Each state has at least 1 representative based on population
 Only 1 representative – AK, DE, MT, ND, SD, VT, WY
 DC, Guam, Virgin Islands, American Samoa elect a delegate
to represent them in the house (not full members)
 Article I, Section 2, Clause 1—”Representatives shall
be…chosen every second Year…”
 Short term means that representatives need to pay close
attention to “the folks back home”
 No term limits
REAPPORTIONMENT
 Article I directs Congress to REAPPORTION (redistribute)
the seats in the house after each DECENNIAL (10 years)
census
 Original House had 65 members
 A GROWING NATION
 1800—146 seats; 1810—186 seats
 1910—AZ & NM added—435 seats
 1920—No reapportionment completed (violated
constitution)
 THE REAPPORTIONMENT ACT OF 1929
 Set up “automatic reapportionment”
 1) set up “permanent” size of the House at 435
 each seat represents approx. 650,000
 2) Census Bureau determines plan for number of
representatives for each state after census
 3) President sends plan sent to Congress for approval
 4) If plan not rejected by either house within 60 days, it
becomes effective
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
 DATE
 Congressional elections are held on the same day in every state
 1872—Election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday
 1872—Written or printed ballots used
 1899—Voting machines approved
 OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS
 Elections that occur in years without a presidential election
 Usually the party in power (party that holds the presidency) loses
seats during off-year elections
 (chart p. 269—Gains and Losses in Off-year elections)
 DISTRICTS
 SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICT—voters in each district elect 1
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person to be the representative for that district
AT-LARGE—all representatives are elected from the state
without districts
1842—At-Large elections were outlawed by Congress
1872—Districts required to have “as nearly as practicable an equal
number of inhabitants”
1901—All districts needed to be of “compact territory” (small
geographic area)
 GERRYMANDERING
 Districts are drawn to the advantage of the political party
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that controls the State’s legislature
Gerrymandering is wide-spread today at all levels of
government
Two reasons:
1) to concentrate the opposition’s voters in one or a few
districts, thus leaving other districts comfortably safe
2) to spread the opposition as thinly as possible among
several districts, limiting the opposition’s ability to win
anywhere in the region.
 Congressional districts varied widely with regard to
population
 WESBERRY v. SANDERS (1964)
 Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution demanded that
the States draw congressional districts of substantially equal
populations
 “One person, one vote”
 Gerrymandering according to race is a violation of the XVth
Amendment
QUALIFICATIONS FOR HOUSE
MEMBERS
 FORMAL QUALIFICATIONS
 1) at least 25 years of age
 2) citizen of the USA for at least 7 years
 3) live in the state you are elected from
 Custom says you must live in the district you are representing
 The House decides about any challenge to an election
 The House can refuse to seat a member by majority vote
 The House can “punish its Members for disorderly behavior” by
majority vote
 The House can expel a member by 2/3 vote
 INFORMAL QUALIFICATIONS
 Have to do with the candidate’s vote-getting abilities:
 1) Party identification
 2) Name familiarity
 3) Gender
 4) Ethnic characteristics
 5) Political experience
 The right combination of these factors can help a candidate win
nomination and election.
 The “wrong” combination will almost certainly spell defeat
 The End