Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution states that "The representatives...shall be apportioned among the several states...according to their respective numbers" . Apportionment is the mathematical process of dividing and allocating four hundred and thirty-five seats in the House of Representatives among the fifty states based on demographic data collected by the Census Bureau. This process, according to the Constitution, must be conducted “within each subsequent period of ten years”. Each of the fifty states is guaranteed one representative. The size of each state's House of Representatives varies every ten years due to population skew. Redistricting is the legislative political process of redrawing the geographic boundaries of the congressional district based on population after the decennial census. Each state is required to comply with certain Supreme Court requirements regarding redistricting. The respective districts within a State should ensure population equality, contiguity, compactness and absence of discrimination against minorities. Districts may be called upon to protect incumbents. The process of deliberately changing districts in order to increase the partisan advantage of a particular political party is called gerrymandering. For Mission One of The Redistricting Game, I was a redistricting consultant for the State of Jefferson and chose to work for the Democratic Party. My mission was to establish population equality by ensuring that every district in the state had virtually the same number of people between 640,000 and 650,000. The virtual State of Jefferson has four district representatives. Rep. Tyree Hugger, Rep. Emma Powerment, Rep. Manny Pulative, and Rep. Celia Coen-Valley representing districts 1...... half of the document ......n on a bipartisan commission or, even worse by the state legislature. I think a bipartisan commission could ultimately result in bipartisan gerrymandering. On the other hand, the party that controls the state legislature often draws district lines in favor of its own political interest. An independent commission ensures fair and apolitical plans for congressional districts, which cannot be vetoed by the governor who also acts in favor of the interests of his political party. I believe that democracy in a state is achievable when people legitimately vote for the representatives they want, but not vice versa. Works Cited Dye, Thomas R., L. Tucker Gibson, Jr., and Clay Robison. Politics in America. Ninth ed. vol. 2. New York, NY: Longman, 2011. 337. Print.Gaskins, Keesha. “Texas Redistricting 101.” Brennan Center for Justice. NYU School of Law, January 12, 2012. Web. March 9. 2012.