Jonathan Milner Jonathan Milner

Reapportionment

GOPOPRO

What state will gain the most congressional seats in 2020?

Source: Economist

AP US Government and Politics

  1. How accurate was your prediction?

  2. What is the big story this map tells?

  3. Here's a quick description (there's also a video below) of the process of reapportionment where every ten years we allocate congressional seats to the states based on the census. States that gain enough population (like Florida) gain congressional seats, meanwhile states that lose enough population (like Michigan) lose congressional seats. Is this a good system of representation?

  4. What would happen if we did not have reapportionment?

  5. What would happen to the size of Congress if we didn’t have reapportionment?

  6. Make a claim that can be substantiated by the data from the chart.

  7. In our high tech, fast paced world, do you think reapportionment should be done more often than every decade?

  8. Can you see any regional geographic trends or patterns in this map?

  9. Why do you think areas like the "rust belt" (Michigan, Pennsylvania) are losing population while other areas like the "sun belt" (Texas, Florida) are gaining population?

  10. How do you think the shift of population southward impacts US politics?

  11. In the past we didn't reapportion seats, we just added members of the House of Representatives. Do you think we should remove the 435 member cap on the size of the House, going back to the old system, or should we continue using our current system of reapportionment?

  12. What would our congress look like without reapportionment?

  13. What do you predict this map will look like after the 2020 census?

  14. How does reapportionment differ from redistricting?

  15. In a recent case entitled Evenwel v. Abbott the Supreme Court is deciding whether in reapportioning seats, the government should count all people in a state or only citizens who are eligible to vote.  In the comments section, explain whether you think that undocumented aliens should be counted in the census, and thus being counted towards reapportionment:

Learning Extension

Can't get enough? Here's a great video explaining how apportionment works:

Action Extension

Go to change.org and make a petition about whether undocumented aliens should be counted in the census.

Cute Lamb Running For President Extension

AP US Government and Politics

AP US Government and Politics

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