# Congressional reapportionment numbers are in **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 26, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808 "2021-04-26T19:54:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/41 "2021-04-27T20:31:13Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > For example, California gets (39,747,267 ÷ 572,381) = ~69.44 votes, which divided among its 52 representatives, means each California representative gets ~1.3354 votes. This is a technically right but un-sellable idea. People aren’t going to want to see news headlines like “Climate legislation passes House by vote of 375.8972 to 141.5332”. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/42 "2021-04-27T20:31:20Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > Along a similar line, my idea is that the state with the lowest population, in this case Wyoming, gets 1 vote for its one representative. Then each state gets a number of votes proportional to their population, but divided among their existing number of representatives. This doesn’t solve the access and representation issue. Having one rep for ~700k people makes it very difficult to express your opinions to your rep so they can represent you on an issue. Without googling I don’t even know where my reps office is and I do know that it is virtually impossible to actually book time to sit down and talk with him without writing a 6 figure check. That is a problem in a representative democracy. While the Wyoming rule won’t solve that issue it will make it better and going to smaller constituencies would be better yet. Also as mentioned your fix doesn’t do anything to help with gerrymandering while smaller population districts help with that as well. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/43 "2021-04-27T20:55:00Z")
With a double Wyoming Rule districts will average a little under 300,000 and the standard deviation should decrease as well (stand back lest you get trampled by the math nerd herd). A rich nation of 330 million shouldn’t be deterred by finding office space for 700 new employees. Yes, yes, staff, too (hand waves). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/44 "2021-04-27T21:08:31Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > This doesn’t solve the access and representation issue. Having one rep for ~700k people makes it very difficult to express your opinions to your rep so they can represent you on an issue. So why only two senators? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/45 "2021-04-27T21:13:38Z")
Senators are for the state or the land if you will and are theoretically answerable to the state house more than the people. They serve a different purpose than representatives that are meant to be there for their people. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/46 "2021-04-28T01:51:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > So why only two senators? A better question: Why not just one? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/47 "2021-04-28T02:09:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > A better question: Why not just one? Two at least allows a state to have different parts of the state represented and thus different points of view. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/48 "2021-04-28T02:15:01Z")
I would say it’s too keep continuity through an election so unlike a presidency or the house they won’t have all of the priorities of the delegation flip 180 at an election. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/49 "2021-04-28T02:26:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No matter how you calculate the congressional seats, there are guaranteed to always be some scenarios that result in weird results. I’m pretty sure that’s been mathematically proven. Ask and þee shall [receive](https://math.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Mathematics/Book%3A_College_Mathematics_for_Everyday_Life_(Inigo_et_al)/09%3A__Apportionment/9.03%3A_Apportionment_Paradoxes) > In 1980, Michael Balinski (State University of New York at Stony Brook) and H. Peyton Young (Johns Hopkins University) proved that all apportionment methods either violate the quota rule or suffer from one of the paradoxes. This means that it is impossible to find the “perfect” apportionment method . ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/50 "2021-04-28T02:38:51Z")
> **[Census: Minnesota keeps all 8 U.S. House seats, barely](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/04/26/census-to-reveal-whether-minnesota-will-lose-house-seat)** > > Had New York state counted 89 more people in the 2020 census, it would not have lost a seat and Minnesota would have. It’s the narrowest such margin recorded since at least 1940. Minnesota keeps 8 seats by the skin of 89 Minnesotans’ teeth. Governor Cuomo responds: > **[New York Could Sue to Prevent Loss of Congressional Seat, Cuomo Says](https://nynow.wmht.org/blogs/politics/new-york-could-sue-to-prevent-censusrelated-loss-of-congressional-seat-cuomo-says/)** > > Cuomo said the margin by which New York is expected to lose that seat — 89 residents — is too slim, and could be the result of a mistake. And there’s this explanation from a Minnesotan: > [@](#): > > “ **We’re good, civic-minded people who like to respond to questionnaires, like from the census,** ” said Peter Wattson, a former state government attorney and redistricting expert who has preemptively sued the state, seeking to have the courts redraw its congressional and state legislative districts I’ve always thought Minnesotans have a cultural affinity for the Great White North, as demonstrated by this thread from six years ago: > [@You fill out my Census (Canada 2016 version)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-fill-out-my-census-canada-2016-version/753784): > > It’s that time again folks. In true spirit of people who long for law, order and good government we [crashed the servers](https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/census-so-lit?utm_term=.imQQVxg0K6#.qnEjXoDEJO)smiley [CBC link](http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/census-2016-nerds-1.3563808). Go Canada! Show Harper that we LIKE having information collected that is used for various planning events. So I was going to fill it out this morning, the website seemed to be working, but I need a few details from folks that I can’t confirm until this evening. I still have 7 days to do it. Does anyone know how my roommate/friend has to answer re: gender.… ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/51 "2021-04-28T03:56:34Z")
I’d imagine there are going to be several lawsuits over the Census numbers. Here in Texas there’s already noise about suing over the state not picking up a third additional Congressional seat. Any lawsuits would put Biden in a weird position, defending a census count by the Trump Administration that by all accounts made a hash of it. But I don’t know how you can fix it as this point. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/52 "2021-04-28T14:12:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Minnesota keeps 8 seats by the skin of 89 Minnesotans’ teeth. > > Governor Cuomo responds: 26 in Minnesota, 89 in New York. Cuomo saying anything about this is just…ugh…imagine the count if, say, he’d responded to nursing home deaths faster. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/53 "2021-04-28T14:23:25Z")
It’s ridiculous to blame this on Cuomo, it could also be high net worth people who fled NY during Covid and didn’t respond to the census. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/54 "2021-04-28T14:30:41Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It’s ridiculous to blame this on Cuomo, Better to blame the politicians who were actively sabotaging the census. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/55 "2021-04-28T15:59:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > This is a technically right but un-sellable idea. People aren’t going to want to see news headlines like “Climate legislation passes House by vote of 375.8972 to 141.5332”. And that’s not going to be the headline, so why worry about it? I think you’re right that any such system is a hard sell, but if you inform people about what is involved and don’t just ask them “How do you feel about a vote in Wyoming only counting for 0.634?” what they are going to be upset about is losing influence. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/56 "2021-04-29T22:12:16Z")
Guess I will post this here: [https://wxow.com/2021/04/29/judge-rules-against-wisconsin-gop-in-redistricting-case-2/](https://wxow.com/2021/04/29/judge-rules-against-wisconsin-gop-in-redistricting-case-2/) Headline is a good summary. Brian ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/57 "2021-05-01T13:11:22Z")
Politico [has an article up](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/01/redistricting-lawsuits-485161) about the profusion of lawsuits that have or will be filed over the Census data. There’s a real chance that many states will still be in litigation and unable to complete their redistricting in time for the 2022 elections, and will have to use provisional maps that are approved or created by the courts. Just throws another element of uncertainty into midterms, and illustrates how the fuck ups of the Trump Administration will continue to impact us for years to come. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/58 "2021-05-01T13:26:51Z")
Given the net outcome of the 2020 elections on the redistricting process I’m not so sure I mind that Trump fucked this one up. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/59 "2021-05-01T14:30:21Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Of course. If a states population shrunk relative to the growth in the smallest state they would lose reps. The same methods they use today for redistricting would be followed. Even states that had no change in the number of its representatives will redraw its districts. It generally gives the party in power the ability to dig itself in deeper, like a tick. > [@](#): > > Though in an ideal world that would be non-partisan. Oh, sweet summer child. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808/60 "2021-05-02T08:48:36Z")
I think the most unexpected event I ever saw in my lifetime, would be California losing a congressional seat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressional-reapportionment-numbers-are-in/940808.md?page=4)