ABSTRACT
The United States Constitution requires that a census be conducted every ten years to determine the population of each state. This information is used in various ways, to determine both liabilities and assets to be accorded to the states. In particular, and most significantly, these numbers are used to determine the number of seats each state gets in the House of Representatives. This in turn dictates the number of electors — effectively the number of votes — assigned to each state in the presidential election process conducted via the Electoral College.
