1. Reapportionment Government: Libertyville HS

2. What is Reapportionment? A method to re-draw congressional district lines to reflect the population changes in America, from state to state Also called “redistricting” (red – lose population, blue = gain pop)

3. What is Reapportionment? Who does it affect? – House of Representatives members ONLY – US Senators NOT affected (why?) Look at example of unapportioned state w/ 4 districts – Where do you want to live to maximize your representation from congressman: with more or fewer people? 250,000 5 million 500,000 1 million

4. What is the Process? Census Bureau counts our population every 10 years to determine where people live Census Bureau divides the total population of the US by 435 (why?) This determines the number of Americans per district Census Bureau then tells each state how many congressional seats it has

5. Effects of Reapportionment Reapportionment effect, 2010 Reapportionment effect, 2000

6. What is the Process? Each state legislature redraws the district lines – Congress – State Legislature – New lines reflect addition / loss of seats Court challenges follow to assure constitutionality and fairness of map Challenges can be brought in state or federal courts Will end up in USSC

7. What can be Taken into Consideration? USSC has decided many cases to determine what can be considered in reapportionment – Same # of people must be in each district (“one man, one vote”): Wesbery v. Sanders – Keep communities together! (AVOID GERRYMANDERING) – Race / ethnicity of a pop. IS NOT allowed to be considered… …unless a compelling state interest is shown “Past discrimination” is not a compelling state interest Showing present discrimination would be enough (Shaw v. Reno)

8. What can be Taken into Consideration? Political preference of a population can be considered when re- districting (Latin Voters v. Perry)

9. Athena Map What is fair and equitable? Assignment – Split map into 20 districts – MUST have equal numbers of symbols in each district (meaning, 10 per district) – On back of map, write and explanation why it is fair and equitable

10. Extra Credit: New Utopia New Utopia has 2.8 million residents Each district must have 400,000 residents Total number of districts = 7 You want to assure victory for the Democratic Party by creating districts with 65% majority of that party Thus, you will need to either GROUP the Republican party’s voters or SPLIT them between the districts Lines dividing districts must be STRAIGHT Try to keep districts as compact as possible

11. Illinois Congressional Map Illinois’ 4 th Congressional District