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Call Now: 904-383-7448The House of Representatives, shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
- Qualifications of electors, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II, Sec. I; Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II, Sec. II; and § 21-2-219.
Factors disqualifying a person from nomination or election, §§ 21-2-7,21-2-8.
Filling vacancies, § 21-2-543.
- U.S. Const., amend. 14, sec. III, modifies clause 2 of this section by imposing additional, but probably anachronistic, disqualifying criteria. The phrase "three fifths of all other persons" in clause 3 of this section referred to slaves and has been rendered obsolete by U.S. Const., amend. 13. The entire first sentence of clause 3 was subsequently superseded by U.S. Const., amend. 14, sec. II.
- For article analyzing constitutionally permissible modifications in qualifications established for representatives and senators, see 17 J. of Pub. L. 103 (1968). For article, "Reapportionment Recapitulated: 1960-1970," see 7 Ga. St. B.J. 191 (1970). For article considering the power of the United States House of Representatives to expel a member and the power of the judiciary to review such an expulsion, see 5 Ga. L. Rev. 203 (1971). For survey of commercial law, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 31 (1982). For article, "Georgia and the Development of Constitutional Principles: An Essay in Honor of the Bicentennial," see 24 Ga. St. B.J. 6 (1987). For article, "Ideology, Religion, and the Constitutional Protection of Private Property: 1760-1860," see 39 Emory L.J. 65 (1990). For comment on South v. Peters, 339 U.S. 276, 70 S. Ct. 641, 94 L. Ed. 834 (1950) denying federal jurisdiction in case involving apportionment, see 2 Mercer L. Rev. 275 (1950). For comment on Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 84 S. Ct. 526, 11 L. Ed. 2d 81 (1964), congressional districting, see 15 Mercer L. Rev. 504 (1964). For comment discussing "one man, one vote" doctrine in light of Wilkins v. Davis, 205 Va. 803, 139 S.E.2d 849 (1965), see 16 Mercer L. Rev. 446 (1965). For comment on Jenness v. Little, 306 F. Supp. 925 (N.D. Ga. 1969), on motion for stay on appeal and injunctive relief sub nom., Matthews v. Little, 396 U.S. 1223, 90 S. Ct. 17, 24 L. Ed. 2d 45 (1969), as to the constitutionality of requiring a filing fee as prerequisite to candidacy in municipal elections, see 21 Mercer L. Rev. 369 (1969).
States can, within limits, specify qualifications of voters in both state and federal elections; the Constitution makes voters' qualifications rest on state law even in federal elections. Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368, 83 S. Ct. 801, 9 L. Ed. 2d 821 (1963).
Command that representatives be chosen "by the People of the several States" means that as nearly as is practicable one person's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's. Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 84 S. Ct. 526, 11 L. Ed. 2d 481 (1964).
Within the states, legislatures may not draw lines of congressional districts in such a way as to give some voters a greater voice than others in choosing a congressional representative. Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 84 S. Ct. 526, 11 L. Ed. 2d 481 (1964).
U.S. Const., art. I, sec. II, cl. 2 provides the sole and exclusive qualifications which must be met by a candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives. Lowe v. Fowler, 240 Ga. 213, 240 S.E.2d 70 (1977).
- Judicial review of the accuracy of the federal census does not raise a nonjusticiable political question under U.S. Const., art. I, sec. II, cl. 3, which grants the exclusive power to Congress to determine the manner in which the census is conducted but does not exclude judicial review. City of Willacoochee v. Baldridge, 556 F. Supp. 551 (S.D. Ga. 1983).
Cited in Consolidated Utils. Co. v. Commissioner, 84 F.2d 548 (5th Cir. 1936); In re Cent. of Ga. Ry., 47 F. Supp. 786 (S.D. Ga. 1942); King v. Chapman, 62 F. Supp. 639 (M.D. Ga. 1945); Pollard v. State, 128 Ga. App. 470, 197 S.E.2d 158 (1973); Smith v. State, 138 Ga. App. 226, 225 S.E.2d 744 (1976); Duncan v. Poythress, 657 F.2d 691 (5th Cir. 1981).
- The only qualifications a candidate must possess to be eligible to seek the office of United States representative are those enumerated in U.S. Const., art. I, sec. II, cl. 2. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-62.
- Insofar as they require a candidate for the United States House of Representatives to be a registered voter or to be a resident of the district from which election is sought, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II, Sec. II, Para. III and O.C.G.A. § 21-2-132 are unenforceable. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-62.
- Constitutionality of statute permitting payment of taxes in instalments, 101 A.L.R. 1335.
Construction and application of vacancies in house of representatives clause of United States Constitution, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 2, cl. 4, and state provisions concerning such elections, 62 A.L.R. 6th 143.