Both the census and subsequent reapportionment of U.S. House seats are required by the U.S. Constitution to ensure every member of the U.S. House represents an equal number of people.

That number was 709,760 constituents per congressman following the 2010 census, though each state is guaranteed at least one representative even if its population falls short of that mark.

If it rises, as expected, to approximately 770,000 residents per representative, then U.S. House seats — capped by law at 435 since 1913 — must be redistributed among the states to ensure continued equal representation.

Each state also is entitled to two seats in the U.S. Senate. A state's total number of representatives and senators is the number of electoral votes the state casts for president every four years.

Indiana has had nine representatives in the U.S. House since 2003. In fact, the Hoosier State and Wisconsin (eight representatives) are the only Midwestern states that have not lost, and are not poised to lose, a representative following a national census this century.

Illinois, for example, has lost at least one representative after each census since 1980, when it had 24 representatives. Illinois had 27 representatives as recently as 1942. It could have just 17 come 2023.