Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

By EditorApr 08, 2015
The ACLU of Florida has launched a salvo against prison gerrymandering. It filed this lawsuit against a Florida county's inclusion of a state prison in its legislative map. The press release is below. March 9, 2015 MIAMI, FL – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a federal lawsuit challenging an election system in Jefferson County, Florida which counts the inmate population of a state prison in the drawing of district maps. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, states that by treating the approximately 1,157 inmates at the Jefferson Correctional Institution (JCI)…
Casedocs, Local Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, , , , ,
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Understanding Prison Gerrymandering and Its Cure: Prisoner Reallocation

Understanding Prison Gerrymandering and Its Cure: Prisoner Reallocation

By EditorApr 08, 2015
Long overlooked in the context of redistricting, prisoners are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as residents of the institutions they are incarcerated in. The goal of redistricting electoral boundaries at the state and local levels is to create equally populated districts that ensure every voter's vote has equal weight in an election. A consensus has been building over the years that large prison populations counted by the Census Bureau in this way, confounds these goals. While the Census Bureau has not changed its counting method for prisoners, in response to growing concern by states and advocacy groups, the Bureau…
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, , , ,
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