The US legislative branch has two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. States divide themselves into congressional districts based on population, with each district electing a representative every two years. States can redraw their districts, but must ensure equal representation and avoid dividing influential voters.
The legislative branch of the United States consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The number of legislators a state can send to the House of Representatives depends on the number of citizens living in that state. To elect each of these representatives, a state’s government divides itself geographically into congressional districts. Citizens living in each of these districts elect the politician who will serve as an MP or MP in the House of Representatives.
Members of Congress and female representatives from a particular congressional district are charged with representing the specific interests of voters in that district. This includes voting on legislation based on prevailing sentiment in the congressional district that elected it, and often takes the form of securing federal spending that specifically benefits the district. A congressional district holds an election for its representative every two years.
Each state geographically divides its voters into congressional districts so that it has one congressional district for every seat it has in the House of Representatives. This process is also known as “mapping” congressional districts. The number of congressional districts a state will have is determined every 10 years when the United States takes its population census. The country uses the census count of population in each state to determine whether each state will have more seats, fewer seats, or the same number of seats in the House of Representatives.
States have the power to redraw their congressional districts at any time, but most do so after the national census. Some states have their legislature draw the new maps and other states have independent commissions that draw these maps. When a state redraws its congressional districts, it should ensure that different congressional districts contain approximately the same number of voters. It is for this reason that areas of low population density will have geographically large congressional districts and areas of high population density will have geographically small congressional districts.
Each congressional district is also assumed to contain voters who live in the same communities and have similar interests, and district boundaries should not intentionally divide a group of influential voters. When states redraw lines to distribute such a voting group across multiple districts where it will reliably be outvoted, the group’s political influence diminishes. This process is referred to as rigging and is particularly controversial when it reduces the political influence of minority groups.
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