Reapportionment is the reallocation of seats in a legislature to the regions from which legislators are elected, following changes in population.
Reapportionment of the United States House of Representatives (the lower house of the U.S. Congress) occurs every year ending in "1", the year after the U.S. Census Bureau performs the decennial census mandated by the U.S. Constitution. In five states (Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and Washington), congressional reapportionment is performed by an independent, bipartisan commission. In the remaining states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a reapportionment plan, subject to approval by the state governor. Various states also have laws or constitutions mandating that municipal governments do this as well.
Each state has its own standards for creating reapportionment plans. In the states where the legislature is in charge of reapportionment, the possibility of gerrymandering often makes the process politically contentious, especially when the two houses of the legislature, or the legislature and the governor, are of different parties. The federal court system is often involved in resolving disputes over reapportionment plans.
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