Congressional Districts

[UK.USfan]

Hi, I'm from London England and into the US voting system in a big way. I have been reading up on the EC voting system, but I have a question regarding Congressional Districts.

Are the Congessional Districts decided by population and if so how many to each District?. NE is a clear example as District 3 takes up about 75% of the geographical area of the State!. Also do the Districts have a rounded number of Counties in each of them or can a County be split between 2 Districts?

I hope someone can assist me with this query.

[ilikeverin]

Yes, they're decided by population  There's no real 'set population'... politicans pretty much try to keep them as even as possible!  Well, hopefully they do

Counties really don't factor into Congressional District creation.  Take into consideration some of Illinois's CDs:









A lot of which are in one county (Cook).

Illinois also gives an example of gerrymandering.  Gerrmandering is purposefully making a district look 'weird' to give political advantage to one party or another.  It's really confusing sometimes

[Bogart]

Since Congress fixed the number of representatives in the House at 435, the number of reps each state gets is determined as a proportion of this number. Each state then gets to determine how the districts are layed out.

[jimrtex]

The US Constitution directs that representatives be apportioned among the States on the basis of population as determined by a decennial census.  The US has conducted a census every 10 years since 1790, and though the census now gathers additions information, its essential purpose remains the apportionment of representatives among the States.

The United States does not conduct any elections.  The individual states do (this is roughly equivalent to the relationship between the UK and the EU, with respect to the election of MEPs).  The US Consitution sets the qualifications of representatives (25 years old, 7 years a citizen, and a resident of the State they are elected from).  There is not a legal requirement that a representative live in their district, but it but is a political issue.  Representatives must be elected by the people, with suffrage the same as for the more numerous branch of the state legislature.

The Constitution grants to the States the authority to determine the time, place, and manner of holding elections for Representatives, but it also grants Congress the authority to make or alter these regulations.  It was not until after the Civil War that Congress set a common date for the election of Representatives.   Traditionally, states have elected their Representatives from individual districts, and are now required by federal law to do so.

When the US was more agricultural and rural, most congressional districts could be made up of several counties and have fairly similar populations.  Beginning around 1900 cities began to grow, and from about 1920 agricultural and rural areas began to experience actual population declines.  Legislatures, which were also elected by districts, were often reluctant to modify either their State's congressional districts or their own districts.  

By the 1960s this had resulted in extreme malapportionment, and the US Supreme Court began to rule against the districts in cases brought before it.  At that time,  the largest CD in a state might have 3 or 4 times the population of the smallest districts.  Rather than combining some districts, and splitting others, there was a tendency to try to maintain existing districts, so perhaps the largest by have 125% the average and the smallest 75%.  In sort of a recursive process the USSC kept rejecting plans with large deviations.

Nowadays, most legislatures try to reapportion so that districts are almost precisely equal (within 1 person).  The census facilitates this by providing population totals on a city block basis.  With 1000s of blocks near a district boundary, you can always find some combination that will provide an equal value.  If the districts are equal, that is one less source of a legal challenge.

A very few States will redistrict based on counties.  Arkansas did so, and has (for the US) an extreme deviation between the districts of about 6000, or almost 1%.  When the legislature did so, they also produced a version that would split a few counties, just in case the courts ruled the 1% deviation to extreme.

In other States, districts will be almost entirely based on counties, but a county along the boundary will be split to equalize populations.  If you look at Nebraska closely, you will notice that 2 counties are split.  In the northeast corner, Cedar County is split between CD1 and CD3.  In the Omaha area, Sarpy county is split between CD2 and CD1.  The deviation between the districts is a couple 100.

From the 1990 plan to 2000 plan, the boundary between CD3 and CD1 moved eastward 2 whole counties along the southern part of the boundary, plus the section of Cedar County.  In 1990, CD2 included all of Douglas and Sarpy County, and a small part of Cass County.  In 2000, the portion of Cass County as well as part of Sarpy County was shifted to CD1.

The national average population for a CD is 645,632.  The largest CD is Montana's single statewide district (902.195).  The smallest CD is Wyoming's single statewide district (493,782).  It is slightly less populous than Rhode Island's 2 districts (Rhode Island is the least populous State with 2 representatives, Montana the most populous State with a single representative.  In Texas the districts either have a population of 651,619  or 651,620.

[KEmperor]

Jimrtex, that was an excellent primer on the history of congressional districts.  

[Bogart]

Outstanding explanation.  It also deserves mention, that many CD's are layed out with ethnic concerns in mind to ensure that minority candidates have a chance to elect minority candidates.  This accounts for some strangely shaped districts.

[UK.USfan]

Hey Guys.

Thanks a lot for your replies and explanation on how Congressional Districts are created!....esp jimrtex's summarize of it all.
It is very simmilar to the way we in the UK create 'constituencies' to elect  our 659 MPs with approx 69,500 population in each, but they do not split 'Counties' over here tho.

I'll be back every so often with anymore queries that I may have about your Electoral system! :-), and I'm sure you'll be just as helpfull.

[jimrtex]

Thanks a lot for your replies and explanation on how Congressional Districts are created!....esp jimrtex's summarize of it all.
It is very simmilar to the way we in the UK create 'constituencies' to elect  our 659 MPs with approx 69,500 population in each, but they do not split 'Counties' over here tho.

The systems are similar if you consider counties in England and Wales as equivalent to States in the United States.  In England and Wales, a number of constituencies is apportioned to each county, in the US a number of representatives (and districts) is apportioned to each State.  In the US, the apportionment is strictly mathematical.  

Note: I am deliberately making a distinction between England and Wales, and Scotland and Northern Ireland because the procedures for defining constituencies are somewhat different.

In England and Wales, some consideration is given to how many "natural" constituencies a county may be divided into, as well as maintaining historical continuity.  A county that was entitled to 4.3 MPs might have 5 MPs if the county more naturally can be divided into 5 roughly equal constituencies, especially if it has had 5 in the past.  And this can work in the other direction, where a county that is entitled to 4.6 MPs might only have 4.

In addition, in England and Wales, county boundaries may be breached.  In the US, it would be impossible to cross a State boundary, even in extreme cases like Montana and Wyoming.

Within, English counties and within US States the process is somewhat similar.  In England, some deference is given to district council boundaries, in the US, States often give some deference to county boundaries.  In the US, court decisions have generally resulted in districts being extremely equal in population.

The process may be different for State legislative districts.  In Texas, counties entitled to more than one representative must have a whole number of districts, plus possibly one remnant that is combined with adjacent counties or remnants of other large counties.  Smaller counties may not be split.  For example if you had one county with a population of 1.6 districts, and and an adjacent county with 1.4 districts, there might be one district in each of the counties, and a cross-boundary district between the two counties.  Alternatively, the county with 1.6 districts might be placed with a smaller county or counties entitled to 0.4 districts.  One district would be entirely in larger county, with another district formed with the remainder of larger county and the smaller county(ies).  The US Supreme Court has accepted somewhat greater variation in the population between legislative districts.  In Texas, it is assumed that a 10% difference will be accepted.  In a few exceptional cases, this has resulted in a district or two that is not strictly in compliance with the Texas Constitution (but is in compliance with the USSC interpretation of the US Constitution).