Every two years, the United States holds congressional elections, and because House members serve two-year terms, all 435 representatives face reelection each cycle. Under Article One, Section Four of the US Constitution, the Elections Clause gives state legislatures the main responsibility of deciding how congressional elections are run, including when, where, and how people vote.
It states: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”
According to constitutional analysis published on Congress.gov, some Founding Fathers fought against giving Congress the ability to override state election laws. Justice Joseph Story wrote in Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States:
“Congress might prescribe the times of election so unreasonably, as to prevent the attendance of the electors; or the place at so inconvenient a distance from the body of the electors, as to prevent a due exercise of the right of choice. And congress might contrive the manner of holding elections, so as to exclude all but their own favourites from office. They might modify the right of election as they please; they might regulate the number of votes by the quantity of property, without involving any repugnancy to the constitution.”
House elections can quickly shift the balance of power in Washington. The party that controls the lower chamber has significant influence over legislation, federal spending, investigations, and the nation’s general political direction.
In an essay called Thoughts on Government, John Adams insisted that the lower chamber of Congress should be “closest to the people, representing their views.” “It should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them,” Adams wrote.
