April 2019.Indd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Alaska’s Vo ng Districts How legisla ve seats are determined and how areas diff er By ERIC SANDBERG Total U.S. House Seats 1 Needed for AK to Have Two he next decennial census will be conducted early H, 1960 2018 next year. While the census provides a mul tude of sta s cs and is used to distribute government 1,117 T The U.S. House has 435 seats, which funds, its primary purpose is the reappor onment and has not changed since the 1910s. redistric ng of the U.S. House of Representa ves and 950 Alaska has had just one of those state legislatures across the country. This once-a-de- seats since statehood in 1959. cade process is a good barometer for how the popula- 796 on’s distribu on has changed. 636 629 Reappor onment is the distribu on of a determined 638 number of legisla ve seats to states or districts whose Total seats U.S. House 609 would have to have for Alaska boundaries don’t change, while redistric ng is the to get a second seat redrawing of legisla ve district boundaries, based on popula on. Each state redraws its own congressional boundaries a er the census reappor ons its number of U.S. House seats. States also control the redistric ng of state legis- latures. 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2018 A er the 2020 count and by the end of the year, the Source: U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Census Bureau will announce the ini al state- two seats in the U.S. Senate re- wide numbers for reap- Reappor onment is the distribu on of gardless of popula on.) Ar cle por oning the number of a set number of legisla ve seats with- One of the U.S. Cons tu on re- districts per state in the quires a popula on count every in set boundaries, and redistric ng 10 years for the reappor on- U.S. House of Representa- is the redrawing of legisla ve district ves. In spring 2021, the ment of seats in the U.S. House bureau will release the boundaries, based on popula on. of Representa ves. The total 2020 Census results down number of House seats has re- to the smallest level of ge- mained at 435 since 1913. ography, the census block. From that release date, the Every decade, 385 out of the 435 vo ng seats in the Alaska Redistric ng Board will have 90 days to fi nalize chamber are reappor oned to states based on popula- a plan for new districts in the Alaska Senate and Alaska on — 385 because each of the 50 states gets one seat House of Representa ves. automa cally. A er each state gets a seat to start, the Census Bureau How seats are determined in the calculates a “priority value” for each state based on U.S. House of Representa ves popula on and its updated number of seats. The state with the highest priority value gets the next seat on the House districts at the na onal level were the original list, and then the bureau recalculates priority values reason for conduc ng a census. (Each state always has and repeats the process un l all available seats have 4 APRIL 2019 ALASKA ECONOMIC TRENDS Historical Number of Seats in the U.S. House, by State 2 1789* 2010 Census Year 2010 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900 1890 1880 1870 1860 1850 1840 1830 1820 1810 1800 1790 1789* Total 435 435 435 435 435 435 437 435 435 435 435 391 357 332 293 243 237 232 242 213 186 142 106 65 Alabama 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 9 9 8 8 6 7 7 5 3 1 - - - Alaska 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Arizona 9 8 6 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Arkansas 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 7 7 7 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 - - - - - California 53 53 52 45 43 38 30 23 20 11 11 8 7 6 4 3 2 2 - - - - - - Colorado 7 7 6 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1 1 - - - - - - - - - Connecticut 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 7 7 7 5 Delaware 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 Florida 27 25 23 19 15 12 8 6 5 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 - - - - - - Georgia 14 13 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 11 11 10 9 7 8 8 9 7 6 4 2 3 Hawaii 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Idaho 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - Illinois 18 19 20 22 24 24 25 26 27 27 27 25 22 20 19 14 9 7 3 1 1 - - - Indiana 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 11 11 10 7 3 1 - - - Iowa 4 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 11 11 11 11 11 9 6 2 2 - - - - - - Kansas 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 7 3 1 - - - - - - - - Kentucky 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 9 9 11 11 11 11 11 10 9 10 10 13 12 10 6 2 - Louisiana 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 6 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 1 - - - Maine 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 7 8 7 - - - - Maryland 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 8 9 9 9 8 6 Massachusetts 9 10 10 11 12 12 14 14 15 16 16 14 13 12 11 10 11 10 12 13 20 17 14 8 Michigan 14 15 16 18 19 19 18 17 17 13 13 12 12 11 9 6 4 3 1 - - - - - Minnesota 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 9 7 5 3 2 2 - - - - - - - Mississippi 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 8 7 7 6 5 5 4 2 1 1 - - - Missouri 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 13 13 16 16 16 15 14 13 9 7 5 2 1 - - - - Montana 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - Nebraska 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 3 1 1 - - - - - - - - Nevada 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - New Hampshire 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 New Jersey 12 13 13 14 15 15 14 14 14 12 12 10 8 7 7 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 5 4 New Mexico 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - New York 27 29 31 34 39 41 43 45 45 43 43 37 34 34 33 31 33 34 40 34 27 17 10 6 North Carolina 13 13 12 11 11 11 12 12 11 10 10 10 9 9 8 7 8 9 13 13 13 12 10 5 North Dakota 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - Ohio 16 18 19 21 23 24 23 23 24 22 22 21 21 21 20 19 21 21 19 14 6 1 - - Oklahoma 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 8 9 8 8 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - Oregon 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - Pennsylvania 18 19 21 23 25 27 30 33 34 36 36 32 30 28 27 24 25 24 28 26 23 18 13 8 Rhode Island 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 South Carolina 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 5 4 6 7 9 9 9 8 6 5 South Dakota 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 - - - - - - - - - - Tennessee 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 10 11 13 9 6 3 1 - Texas 36 32 30 27 24 23 22 21 21 18 18 16 13 11 6 4 2 2 - - - - - - Utah 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - - Vermont 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 6 4 2 - Virginia 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 11 13 15 21 22 23 22 19 10 Washington 10 9 9 8 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 3 2 1 - - - - - - - - - - West Virginia 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3 - - - - - - - - - Wisconsin 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 10 9 8 6 3 2 - - - - - - Wyoming 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - *Seats were appor oned by the U.S.