8
election case usually deals with a single House seat. However, for several reasons, this is not
always so. First, some cases deal with multiple seats. The clearest example is the case in the
28th Congress (1843-45) when 21 seats were part of a single contest. The basis of the case was
the General-Ticket system that the states of New Hampshire, Georgia, Mississippi, and Missouri
continued to employ to elect their House members, despite the provision in the Apportionment
Act of 1842 mandating single-member district elections. Because of the nature of the contest, all
21 seats across the four states were dealt with in one case by the Committee on Elections.
Second, multiple cases occasionally deal with the same seat. This can occur when the
Committee on Election determines that an election contest first involves a prima facie case
(when, for example, two individuals possess what appear to be valid election certificates), before
a case can be evaluated on its merits. This can also occur if there are multiple elections for a
single seat in the same Congress (because of death, retirement, or some other vacancy), opening
the door for multiple contests. Third, some cases deal with territorial representation. U.S.
Territories are entitled to representation in the House, though territorial delegates may not vote.
Thus, contested election cases involving territorial seats do not constitute “true” House seats. In
all, of the 601 contested election cases, forty-three deal with disputes over territorial
representation.
[Figure 2 about here]
Based on the Figure 2 data, Figure 3 illustrates the percentage of House seats contested in
each Congress. Because the number of seats per Congress has varied over time, the impact of
election contests is better assessed on a percentage basis, rather than using raw per-Congress seat
totals. As the figure illustrates, the percentage of contested House seats has fluctuated
considerably over time. While the number of contested seats has exceeded 10 percent on three
Convention