The real question you want to ask here is why California and other populous states have such a disproportionately small number of U . S . House Representatives , as the number of electors is required by Article 1 , Section 1 , Clause 2 of the Constitution to be equal to the number of Representatives plus Senators for an individual state Each State shall appoint , in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct , a Number of Electors , equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress but no Senator or Representative , or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States , shall be appointed an Elector . So then , how do we decide how many U . S . House Representatives each state should have ? Article One , Section Two , Clause 3 sets that mechanism 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 RepresentativeNote that this places an upper limit on the number of representatives to 1 per 30 , 000 people , but there is no requirement that there be a specific number of representatives per state or per population beyond each state having at least one , that mechanism is left to Congress . Congress , in turn , has set a constant of 435 representatives . As there are only 435 to go around , states with a large population are all but guaranteed to end up with a much smaller number of representatives overall , and a severely imbalanced ratio of people to representatives . Fixing that by floating the number of representatives according to a specific formula , like 130 , 000 , would similarly bring the elector count back within reason . But that will immediately and significantly shift political power away from rural areas and specifically away from the Republican party , which is why it won ' t happen any time soon .