Βασσμένη σε στοχεία από την ανά δεκαετία απογραφή, σε κάθε πολιτεία κατανέμεται ένα μερίδιο από τις 435 έδρες στην [[Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων τωτων Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών]], αν και σε κάθε πολιτεία είναι εγγυημένη το ελάχιστο μία έδρα, άσχετα από τον πληθυσμό. Αυτή η κατανομή βασίζεται στο μερίδιο του πληθυσμού κάθε πολιτείας επί αυτού των [[Πενήντα Πολιτείες|Πενήντα Πολιτειών]] μαζί (without regard to the populations of the [[District of Columbia]], the Commonwealth of [[Puerto Rico]] or other [[Territories of the United States|U.S. dependencies]]). The [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] is the body that, every four years, elects the [[President of the United States|president]] and [[vice president of the United States]]. Each state's representation in the Electoral College is equal to that state's total number of members in both houses of the [[United States Congress]]. The [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution]] grants the [[District of Columbia]], which is separate from any state, three votes. More precisely, it gets as many votes in the Electoral College as it would have if it were a state, but no more votes than the state with the fewest votes, which is currently three (e.g. Wyoming). Thus, the total representation in the College is 538 members (equal to 100 [[United States Senate|senators]] plus 435 [[United States House of Representatives|representatives]], plus 3 members for the District of Columbia).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/procedural_guide.html|title=A Procedural Guide to the Electoral College|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|author=Office of the Federal Register|accessdate=2010-08-13}}</ref> The 11 most populous states, representing 56% of the population, have a majority of the Electoral College votes, enough to elect the president.
