Explainer: How are members of US House of Representatives elected?

The US House of Representatives is responsible for making and passing federal laws. It is one of the two chambers of the US Congress, the other is the US Senate.

The members of the House were to be directly elected by the people according to the constitution of the US.

As per the Section 2 of the Article 1 of the US constitution, “The US House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”

The representatives are elected for a two-year term by those residing in the congressional district a candidate will represent and they must be at minimum age of 25, in possession of US citizenship for seven or more years and resident of the state from which they are elected, according to the constitution.

Each state is guaranteed at least one representative in the House and as the population fluctuates, the number of representatives are also changed with the rise and fall in the population of a state every 10 years with the census.

The House of Representatives have 435 members and the number of members representing a state is determined by the population of the state. The House originally had 59 members but by the ratification of the Constitution by North Carolina and Rhode Island in 1790, the first Congress adjourned with 65 members.

The number of representatives kept increasing with the rise in population of the states and by 1912 the House of Representatives had reached 435 members.