Census 2000, and Re-apportionment

The Electoral College

ARTICLE II, Sec. 1. of the U.S. Constitution:
"Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector."

The Constitution grants each state two Senators plus a number of Representatives based on the population of the state. From the inception of the REPUBLIC the number of House seats granted was one Representative for each district of 30,000 or more persons but the Framers allowed Congress to cap the number of Representatives by law to prevent the House from becoming too large. In the early 1900's Congress took advantage of that provision and capped the number at 435. Since then, the number of persons in each district has increased but the total number of Representatives in the HOR has remained constant at 435. The 435 seats are re-apportioned every ten years based on the decennial census. Beginning in 2002 each Representative in the House will have a constituency of approximately 690,000.

Since the Articles of Confederation in 1781 states have used popular elections within their respective states to pick Electors. Election procedures are state-by-state decisions which could legally be changed anytime prior to an election at the discretion of each state's legislature. Regardless of how Electors are appointed, they gather in their respective state capitals and each Elector casts one vote for President and one vote for Vice-President. This nationwide group of Electors constitutes the Electoral College.

The usefulness of an Electoral College system is to partially balance congressional voting power between small and large states. Balance is achieved because states are guaranteed at least one Representative and two Senators, thereby giving even the smallest states a minimum of three Electoral votes. As of the census of 2000, Wyoming has a population of just over 495,000 but still is granted three Electoral votes (two Senators and one Representative) as are six other low-population states: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont. All other states have four or more based on each state's population.

The balancing effect of the Electoral College was just one reason the concept was adopted. A far more important reason was to avoid the potential chaos of the public voting for "favorite sons" and creating a stalemate in the selection process. The original Constitutional language contained clauses to minimize this problem but through amendments the system has been altered so that now the only Constitutional restriction on the Electors is that the Elector may not vote for a President and Vice-President from the same state.

The net effect of alterations is a greatly improved system which exactly meets the Framer's intent. Each state arrives at a consensus for President and Vice-President within the state, then the 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.) cast Electoral votes towards a national consensus. This is the essence of a democratic representative republic.

The alternative would be a national election much like systems found in third world countries where run-offs are held attempting to arrive at a national concensus. Such wide-open processes have failed throughout history. The American system is the most enduring on earth... The longest lasting self-governing constitutional system in world history.

The Dicennial Census

ARTICLE I, Sec. 2 of the U.S. Constitution:
"Representatives... shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers,... The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative;..."

The above excerpt specifies that Representatives shall be allocated to the states based on populations as determined by a census to be conducted every ten years... A decennial census. Originally, new Representatives were allocated as the country grew. The language provides that a Representative may not have FEWER than 30,000 constituents but does not make an upper limit. Therefore, the House decided in 1911 to limit its number to 435 and that is where it stands today. Consequently, every ten years the existing 435 must be re-allocated (re-apportioned) based on population changes.