Legislation Aims to Base Political Representation Solely on Citizen Population, Citing “Perverse Incentive” of Current System
A coalition of Republican senators, led by Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), reintroduced legislation last week aimed at fundamentally altering how congressional districts and Electoral College votes are apportioned.
The “Equal Representation Act” seeks to ensure that only legal U.S. citizens are included in the decennial census count used to determine political representation, a move proponents argue is critical for upholding fairness and preventing what they call a “perverse incentive” for open border policies.
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Currently, all residents, including undocumented immigrants, are counted in the census to draw congressional districts and allocate Electoral College votes.
Senators Britt and Hagerty contend that this practice disproportionately benefits states with large undocumented populations, effectively diluting the political power of citizens in other states.
“Every ten years when the census is conducted, it’s imperative that only U.S. citizens are included in the count to determine the apportionment of congressional seats and allocation of Electoral College votes,” stated Senator Britt. “Counting illegal aliens for these critical purposes only rewards reckless jurisdictions for supporting open borders and sanctuary policies. The Equal Representation Act is a straightforward and commonsense measure to uphold fundamental fairness, and I’m proud to cosponsor it.”
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“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map for the presidency,” Hagerty said. “While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats have back-filled the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes, hence artificially boosting their political power and in turn diluting the power of other Americans’ votes.”
As an example, proponents of the bill point to states like California, where they argue millions of undocumented residents contribute to the state receiving more congressional seats and Electoral College votes than its citizen population alone would justify.
This, they contend, creates an incentive for states to become “magnets” for undocumented immigration to increase their political clout.
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The Equal Representation Act would necessitate a citizenship question on the census to facilitate the accurate count of legal citizens.
Senator Britt, who also co-sponsored the bill in the previous 118th Congress, has consistently advocated for policies to ensure only American citizens participate in federal elections. She is also the lead sponsor of the “Citizen Ballot Protection Act,” which aims to strengthen states’ abilities to verify voter citizenship.
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