As the composition of the new Congress that convenes in January becomes clear as the last of the contested races for seats in the House of Representatives are settled, the complaints by Hispanic/Latinos that they are underrepresented sound quaint — especially with the election of new gay and lesbian, Asian, Muslim and bisexual candidates. A new set of fresh HispanicLatino faces will go to Capitol Hill, but they are the products of a system that is not working despite the continuing diversification of Congress itself.
The truth is that HispanicLatinos are vastly underrepresented in Congress. Up until the 1970’s congressional districts were drawn by state legislatures with no equity in mind. In one district, 50,000 voters would elect a representative compared to 500,000 in another, making the votes of the 50,000 ten times more valuable. Once the Supreme Court ruled in the 1960’s that each citizen’s vote was equal to another, it was not long before each person, regardless of voting status, was to be represented equally. Today, congressional districts are roughly equal in population, currently standing at about 715,000 each. But equal numbers in population do not translate into equality for HispanicLatinos.