Electoral District Borough Census Is An Instrument Used By The Government

The Virginia Plan sparked debate over its legislative representative proposals. The plan proposed representation of the states by population. This proposition favored the larger states. The Jersey Plan also known as the smaller state plan rallied for equal representation for all states. A compromise was finally reached. One house of the legislature would consist of two representatives from each state. This satisfied the small states. The second house of the legislature would consist of representatives based on population, thus satisfying the larger states. The establishment of a fair measure to apply taxation and representation in the legislature was described in the Federalist Papers: The Apportionment of Members among the States. The government would conduct a census that would prevent the states from understating their population for taxation and overstating their population for representation. The “Great Compromise” resolving the issue of representation did not mean that the federalists and anti-federalists had come to agreement on the Constitution.

Forgette Richard, Garner Andrew, and Winkle John. “Do redistricting principles and practices affect US state legislative electoral competition? State Politics and policy quarterly, 20(9) (2009): 151 175.

When looking how effectively a country represents its citizens, it is important to take into account the manner in which they are represented. The two main types of representation are descriptive and agency representation. Descriptive representation is the concept that those who represent the American people should not only have the same political interest, but should also mirror the demographic makeup of the people. Agency representation, which is what the United States congress looks like, is when the representation does not reflect the demographic, but they speak for their constituents’ interests in congress. The constituents are able to hold the representatives accountable and can choose not to elect them in the next term, so the representatives

As the pillars of the electoral college collapse under the tests of time, the institution itself becomes obsolete. First, the concept of, “Winner Takes All,” means that if an election splits 49%-51%, then the smaller party’s votes are virtually erased. This system represents only the majority party in each state, thus effectively silencing all other parties. Additionally, basing the number of electors on the members in both houses of Congress creates an unequal distribution of votes across the states. Due to their infamously low population, Wyoming should statistically have only one elector, but the addition of their two senators brings them to a total of three electors. This means that each of Wyoming’s votes represents less people than every other state. For instance, each of Texas’s 38 votes represents 733,157 people while each of Wyoming’s votes represents 195,157 people. Therefore, the votes of the people of Wyoming are worth 26.62% more than that of Texans. The inequality of voting power between states combined with the “winner take all” system method of tallying votes projects an inaccurate portrayal of will of the American people.

“The Republicans are going to have their hand on the computer mouse, and when you have your hand on the computer mouse, you can change a district from a D to an R.” - The New York Times Dec 24,2010. Redistricting plays a role in electing representatives and state legislators. There is this thing called gerrymandering that allows the drawing of the new districts to be in their favor.

Members of Congress are voted to office by their electorate as their representatives at the congress level of democracy. In their capacity, they may decide to exercise their powers by the will of the people or according to their personal judgment. When the members of Congress opt to be the people’s delegate, their actions in the House and other congressional engagements are a reflection of the will of their district. As such, the delegate representative does not have or exercise the autonomy to represent and decide for their district. Instead, a strenuous consultation process is required to keep the people in control of all relevant decisions.

By placing high percentages of members of a racial or ethnic minority group in one or more districts so that minority voting strength is artificially limited to those districts and is minimized in neighboring districts. This leads to Racially Polarized Voting, which creates circumstances in which the voting preferences of a racial or ethnic group consistently vary from those of other racial or ethnic groups, particularly when the different voting r=preferences are based on the race of the candidate this also is referred as Racial Bloc Voting. Undercount is a common practice in the error in census data that results from the failure to count some people in the census, which is done every ten years. This proves problematic as certain groups, such as members of racial or ethnic minorities, have been disproportionately undercounted by the Federal Census, either by voter registration ineffectiveness or the migratory nature of the poor in attempt to find work. Congressman John S. Tanner has proposed a bill which would limit the drawing of congressional boundaries to once per decennial census period, and require the approval of a new district boundary by an independent commission.

In 1787, one of the most debated issues was the size of the House of Representatives. During the Constitutional Convention, the delegates proposed that 40,000 citizens should be represented by one congressional district. However, George Washington intervened and argued that 40,000 was too high, and reasoned that 30,000 was more reasonable and allow people to be represented adequately Washington’s proposal was incorporated in Article One, Section Two of the Constitution which states “representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” While the number of representatives did increase throughout the history of the United States, the number has been set at 435 members since 1929. Congress in 1929 passed the Permanent Apportionment Act that set the number of representatives at 435, which was set after a 1910 census. Currently each representative represents 700,000 citizens and congressional seats are redistricted around the nation based on population changes. But the currently number of representatives does not adequately represent the present population and a single district cannot represent a huge number of people. Therefore, the current number of representatives must be increased.

"Redrawing the Electoral Map: Reforming the Electoral College with the District-Popular Plan." Hofstra Law Review, vol. 41, no. 1, Fall2012, pp. 217-265. EBSCOhost, dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=86414706&site=ehost-live.

In the article, the author uses numerous facts, as well as quotes from experts who have elaborated on the subject as well. One quote said by Paul Smith was,“Partisan gerrymandering of this kind is worse now than anytime in recent memories.” This is significant because he is talking about how much the republicans have taken advantage of gerrymandering and have used it to their best interest.

This worked out to satisfaction of the smaller states and for the larger states they were given a House of Representatives that would consist of a larger body of representatives for each state in proportion to the amount of the people in that state.

The U.S Constitution gives the states considerable latitude in the way of conducting elections. The American citizens have many opportunities to vote. However, a turnout in American elections has dramatically decreased over the past several decades. In order to address this issue, majority of states have allowed absentee voting reforms. These convenient reforms are thought to increase the voter turnout in the elections, as well as to reduce administrative costs.

Redrawing the districts to give a political advantage is not sophisticated. It ruins the point of the Fifteenth Amendment which allows the right to vote no matter the race, sex, or personality. The right to vote doesn’t matter because of the unfairness and the corruption of the districts. These voters will be confused about these uncanny district shapes. Because of these lines, the citizens will not know which office to vote for. For Example, the first ever

Recent legislative proposals in Virginia and Pennsylvania remind us that the elector system defeats fundamental principles of democracy. Republicans in both states have proposed abandoning the winner-take-all format for choosing electors, where all of the state's electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the statewide popular vote. Instead, they want to award electors according to vote totals in individual congressional districts. This would give Republican presidential candidates at least some electors in each state, which have both gone

I am Nicholas Benefield, a fourteen year old Boy Scout of Troop 65 (Long Beach) and a member of the Tribe of Tahquitz (an honor scout organization). The course of this letter relies on my pronounced interest sparked in a school debate questioning or affirming the electoral system. Due to the natural but unethical form of this election and its candidates, countless citizens question their desire or need to vote if their vote might lay even a finger upon our electoral college. In this understanding, no negative response to a system of voting that has lasted over two centuries is needed if adjustments to a system designed for an completely different society are endeavoured upon. Those adjustments need to be a congressional district plan, just as Maine and Nebraska have it, with the candidate who wins the state majority popular vote wins the Senate electoral votes and the winner of the majority of the popular vote of each congressional district sends one of their electors