The House of Representatives “One Person, One Vote”

Cerebral Calisthenics: Recall that Popular Sovereignty is one of basic principles upon which our Constitution is founded. What comment does this political cartoon make about Popular Sovereignty?

Congressional Districts Remember that there are 435 members of the House of Representatives Each Member is selected from a separate Congressional District In some States there is only a single Congressional District (Wyoming, etc), in others there are as many as 53 (California) District lines are drawn by State Legislatures – Often times are disproportionate to each other

Congressional Districts of California

Populations of States with One Congressional District (2010) One Person, One Vote? The average seat in The House is equal to about 710,000 in population (2010) Populations of States with One Congressional District (2010) Alaska 710,231 Montana 989,415 Wyoming 563,626 North Dakota 672,591 South Dakota 814,180 Vermont 625,741 Delaware 897,934

PA P PA Population: 12,702,379 (2010) = 705,687 per district What is the power of one vote in PA in comparison to a resident of Wyoming? Montana?

One Person, One Vote? Gerrymandering Every 10 years a census (population count) is conducted and the Congressional districts are reapportioned by State This allows the State Legislatures to redraw the Congressional Districts of their States Many times both Democratic and Republican leaning legislative bodies try to redraw district lines to benefit their party in the voting process This is known as Gerrymandering

Eldridge Gerry: A Notorious Legacy Election of 1812: Gov. Gerry of Mass. had his state legislature redraw the Congressional Districts of the State His plan was to draw one large district that would include the majority of Federalists, allowing his party, the Democratic-Republicans to win the remaining districts

Gerrymandering: A Modern Take

Gerrymandering In Pennsylvania? Access today’s wiki to find a digital copy of the Inquirer article that you were distributed in class. Questions related to the article can also be found on the wiki.

Your Turn: Does the Constitution require that every person’s vote count the same as another person’s vote? Why would that be important? We’ll watch a short film To help answer these question.