<P> The Constitution does not provide for the representation of the District of Columbia or of territories . The District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are each represented by one non-voting delegate . Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner, but other than having a four - year term, the Resident Commissioner's role is identical to the delegates from the other territories . The five Delegates and Resident Commissioner may participate in debates; prior to 2011, they were also allowed to vote in committees and the Committee of the Whole when their votes would not be decisive . </P> <P> States that are entitled to more than one Representative are divided into single - member districts . This has been a federal statutory requirement since 1967 . Prior to that law, general ticket representation was used by some states . </P> <P> States typically redraw district boundaries after each census, though they may do so at other times, such as the 2003 Texas redistricting . Each state determines its own district boundaries, either through legislation or through non-partisan panels . "Malapportionment" is unconstitutional and districts must be approximately equal in population (see Wesberry v. Sanders). Additionally, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits redistricting plans that are intended to, or have the effect of, discriminating against racial or language minority voters . Aside from malapportionment and discrimination against racial or language minorities, federal courts have allowed state legislatures to engage in gerrymandering for the benefit of political parties or incumbents . In a 1984 case, Davis v. Bandemer, the Supreme Court held that gerrymandered districts could be struck down on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause, but the Court did not articulate a standard for when districts are impermissibly gerrymandered . However, the Court overruled Davis in 2004 in Vieth v. Jubelirer, and Court precedent currently holds gerrymandering to be a political question . According to calculations made by Burt Neuborne using criteria set forth by the American Political Science Association, about 40 seats, less than 10% of the House membership, are chosen through a genuinely contested electoral process, given partisan gerrymandering . </P> <P> Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for representatives . Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty - five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state he or she represents . Members are not required to live in the districts they represent, but they traditionally do . The age and citizenship qualifications for representatives are less than those for senators . The constitutional requirements of Article I, Section 2 for election to Congress are the maximum requirements that can be imposed on a candidate . Therefore, Article I, Section 5, which permits each House to be the judge of the qualifications of its own members does not permit either House to establish additional qualifications . Likewise a State could not establish additional qualifications . </P>

When does the house of representatives decide how many representatives can be sent from each state