# Question about number of seats in House of Representatives **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322 "2019-04-10T09:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322/41 "2019-04-12T02:55:11Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Nevertheless, if all states did this, it would make the electoral college come out closer to the popular vote. I’m not sure that’s true. It would incentivize even more gerrymandering. As an example there is Ohio in 2010. At the congressional level the Republican’s took 53.67% of the vote but took 13 of the 18 (72.22%) of the congressional seats. So using the by-district method would have awarded 15 of 20 electoral votes even though the voting would have led to 10-10 or 11-9 in the EC under proportional division. (had that been a presidential year but it shows the problem). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322/42 "2019-04-12T02:57:40Z")
Looking at the 2012 Ohio map it’s even plainer. There are fewer congressional district do to the census and reapportionment, fine. But in this case, the Republican candidates took 50.96% of the votes and won 12 of 16 seats. So a case where proportionally it would lead to a 8-8 EV breakdown ends up being 14-4. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322/43 "2019-04-12T04:43:10Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I’m not sure that’s true. It’s not. [In 2012](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/02/03/mitt-romney-would-be-president-right-now-if-we-linked-electoral-votes-to-congressional-results/?utm_term=.a6bf59866888), it would have given the presidency to the candidate who lost the popular vote by almost 4%. ---
**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 12, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322/44 "2019-04-12T05:39:11Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > We have two states that currently split their electoral vote - Maine and Nebraska. But they don’t do it the way I think you are assuming. Yeah I actually did know that they apportion 1 EV per district and the 2 at large to the overall winner - I’m not as ignorant as you think I am AND I know what proportional means. I apportioned each state’s EVs according to the percentage of the vote each candidate got. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322/45 "2019-04-12T11:55:07Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It’s not. [In 2012](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/02/03/mitt-romney-would-be-president-right-now-if-we-linked-electoral-votes-to-congressional-results/?utm_term=.a6bf59866888), it would have given the presidency to the candidate who lost the popular vote by almost 4%. Yeah, I first heard of the congressional district thing in the 90s sometime. I thought it sounded brilliant - at least compared to the electoral college. But it assumes a non-manipulated playing field. If the districts are cracked and packed then the entire system is rigged in such a way as to be worthless at both the district and national level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-number-of-seats-in-house-of-representatives/832322.md?page=2)