Representation is a contentious subject. The U.S. Congress tries to balance the representation of each state across it’s two chambers: the Senate, w

The impact of 25 people on Congressional voting

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2024-11-05 15:30:07

Representation is a contentious subject. The U.S. Congress tries to balance the representation of each state across it’s two chambers: the Senate, where each state gets equal representation, and the House of Representatives, where each state gets a voice proportional to its population.

But that’s where things get harder. Based on the last census there are 331.9MM people in the U.S., of which 11.823% reside in California. Unfortunately, 11.823% of the 435 total seats in the House assigns 51.43 representatives to California. What should do with the extra 0.43 of a person?

No matter which algorithm is used to resolve this, clearly some states will end up underrepresented, and some overrepresented. This story continues a previous analysis on apportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives, and you can catch up on which states are stuck in a representation trap here:

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