Media Contact: Alexei Woltornist (202)226-6205

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) today introduced the Fair Representation Amendment. This proposed constitutional amendment would end the practice of counting non-citizens for electoral maps. If enacted, the number of representatives and electoral votes per state would reflect citizens rather than total population.

Currently, the federal government allocates Congressional seats, as well as Electoral College votes, based on a state’s total number of “persons,” including non-citizens and illegal aliens. As a result, states that refuse to enforce immigration law, and thus have an inflated number of “persons,” are unjustly rewarded with more representatives in Congress and more clout in presidential elections than they would if only citizens were counted.

“American citizens give away a little more sovereignty with every census,” said Davidson. “With the widespread disregard of the rule of law with regard to immigration, the vision of the founding fathers is in jeopardy. The Fair Representation Amendment would restore fair representation to the states by ensuring each citizen’s vote has equal value.  People here illegally are represented by their home country embassies, not by Congress.  Unfortunately, that is not currently how the electoral maps are drawn.”

The amendment now requires a two-thirds majority of both chambers of Congress and ratification by 38 states.

The bill is cosponsored by:
Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO-5)
Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5)

The bill is supported by:
Federation for American Immigration Reform (letter of support)