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House Reapportionment

House Reapportionment. Population Shifts. Every 10 years, a CENSUS is taken to count the population of the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives uses this information to reapportion the seats in the House. Remember, representation in the House is based on population. 435 is enough!.

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House Reapportionment

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  1. House Reapportionment

  2. Population Shifts • Every 10 years, a CENSUS is taken to count the population of the United States. • The U.S. House of Representatives uses this information to reapportion the seats in the House. • Remember, representation in the House is based on population.

  3. 435 is enough! • Every time we added states (& population) to the nation, we added seats. • In 1929, Congress passed the Reapportionment Act to freeze the number at 435. • So now, they have to redistribute the seats every 10 years.

  4. For a state to gain seats, another state or states must lose, because they number stays at 435.

  5. 1970 Census=24 seats for TX

  6. 1980 Census=27 seats for TX Keep your eye on District #16 in far West TX!

  7. 1990 Census=30 seats for TX WOW! What happened to District #16?

  8. 2000 Census=32 seats for TX LINK TO THE NEW MAP http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/plans/planc01440/viewer.htm?Title=PLAN%2001440C%20-U.S.%20Congressional%20%20Districts%2C%20110th%20%20CONGRESS Where did District #16 go? TX Average: 651,619 people per district.

  9. What is a Gerrymander? • "The Gerry-Mander" first appeared in this cartoon-map in the Boston Gazette, 26 March 1812

  10. Supreme Court Cases • Westbury v. Sanders • Baker v. Carr • =1 man, 1 vote principle • Districts needs to mathematically equal.

  11. What does a gerrymandered district look like? North Carolina black majority 12th Congressional District Gerrymander

  12. What does a gerrymandered district look like?

  13. How do they do this? • It’s all in how the lines are drawn! • Example

  14. What about Texas? Well, we had some problems in 1996.

  15. Majority-Minority Districts Challenged in the Supreme Court in 1996, (by a HISD government teacher!) Vera v. Bush, and the Justices said that this was unconstitutional. They said you could not segregate people by race for districting purposes. That was a violation of the 14th’s equal protection clause.

  16. Democrats in the St. Leg. couldn’t work it out, so a 3-judge panel had to redraw the lines.

  17. Oh, but that’s not the end to our story about gerrymandering in Texas! It got pretty nasty in 2003.

  18. Democrat’s Plan Republican’s 2003 Plan

  19. Republican plan won.

  20. Demographics: Total Population: 651,620 (+1) Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Republican, as of 2002 75.5% 9.2 18.7 40.7 59.3

  21. Close up of District 10 • Where do you live? • http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/plans/planc01440/viewer.htm?Title=PLAN%2001440C%20-U.S.%20Congressional%20%20Districts%2C%20110th%20%20CONGRESS

  22. What is the future of District 10? • According to McCaul’s Austin office, District 10 now has around 900,000 people in it, as of Oct, 2008. So it will have to be redrawn after the 2010 census. • Most of the growth in the district has occurred in the Cypress area.

  23. Represented by: John Culberson—Rep. Demographics: Total Population: 651,620 (+1) Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Republican 67.5% 6.1 18.0 29.8 70.0

  24. Represented by: Pete Olson—Rep. Originally was Tom DeLay—Rep. Demographics: Total Population: 651,619 Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Republican 60.6% 9.8 20.3 34.1 65.9

  25. So what happened to Dist. 22? • Tom DeLay is under indictment for his involvement in the Republicans state legislators’ redrawing of the district lines in 2004. • The Republican party has backed DeLay. • People in his district were so fed up with him and the Rep. party, that they turned on them and voted for a Democrat, in 2006. • Hot race in 2008 between incumbent Nick Lampson (D) and Pete Olson. • Pete Olson won.

  26. Demographics: Total Population: 651,619 Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Republican 64.2% 19.5 12.6 39.4 60.6 Represented by: Ted Poe—Rep,

  27. Represented by: Sheila Jackson Lee—Dem. Demographics: Total Population: 651,619 Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Democrat 19.7% 41.0 35.6 74.0 26.0

  28. Represented by: Gene Green—Dem. Demographics: Total Population: 651,619 Anglo Black Hispanic Dems Reps Solid Democrat 21.9% 10.4 66.164.2 35.8

  29. Other Houston Area Districts • 8th: 67% Republican • Represented by Kevin Brady—Rep. • 9th: 70% Democrat • Represented by Al Green—Dem. • 10th: 64% Republican • Represented by Michael McCaul—Rep. • 14th: 61% Republican • Represented by Ron Paul—Rep. (Ran for President last year!)

  30. So… • 6 out of 9 districts in Harris County, are supposed to be solid REPUBLICAN, and • Only 3 out of 9 districts in Harris County are supposed to be solid DEMOCRAT. • Clearly, giving the Republicans the advantage of sending more of their like-minded people to D.C.

  31. Statewide Impact • BEFORE (when Dems. drew the lines in 2001) • 16 Democrats • 16 Republicans • NOW (after Reps. redrew the lines in 2004) • 11 Democrats • 21 Republicans

  32. How could we take politics out of the equation? • A Redistricting Commission • AZ does this. • 3 Reps, 3 Dems, 3 Indep. • Will this happen in Texas? • Probably not. • Why? The stakes are too high. Each party at the state level, wants more power and control in D.C.

  33. New Supreme Court ruling • March 9, 2009 • 5-4 decision • Electoral districts must have a majority of African-Americans or other minorities to be protected by a provision of the Voting Rights Act. • This means that if a district is made up of less than half of a minority group, then the legislature cannot make it a majority-minority district through gerrymandering, and use the VRA to justify it. • Impact: This could make it harder for southern Democrats to draw friendly boundaries after the 2010 Census. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030900987_pf

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