Power: Why the Census Matters to Indiana
Congressional Representation and the Electoral College
Indiana lost a seat in the House of Representatives after Census 2000—leaving us with nine representatives. This also has an impact on presidential elections since each state’s number of electoral votes is equal to its number of representatives plus senators.
As the population increasingly shifts to the southern and western parts of the country, Indiana is in danger of losing its ninth seat in the coming decades. In fact, neighboring Illinois, Michigan and Ohio are all projected to lose seats in 2020. This makes it all the more necessary to count every Hoosier in an effort to keep our seats.
Local Representation
Census data are also used to define