The Method of Equal Proportions

Abstract

The Constitution provides that the members of the House of Representatives shall be apportioned among the states according to their respective members. Not only the representation of the several states is concerned, but an inequitable apportionment has an effect on the vote in the electoral college, as the vote of any state is equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which a state may be entitled. It is thus apparent that an equitable assignment of representatives to the several states is of paramount importance, as in a close election the result may be decided by the electoral votes of a state or group of states which had representation out of proportion to the population. At first glance it might seem that with a given membership the population of each district would be determined by dividing the total population by the total number of members. Thus if the total population is 5o,ooo,ooo0, and the membership of the House is fixed at 435, there should be one member for each 344,827 population, and the apportionment of each state would be its population divided by 344,827. But no state is likely to have a population equal to an exact multiple of the apportionment base. Fractions of various size would be left over, and it is the determination of the weight to be given to these fractions that constitutes the problem of an equitable apportionment.