Accounting for Prisoner Populations

Abstract

The presence of large prison populations in certain locales may figure prominently in local redistricting efforts. This chapter explores prospects for drawing a majority minority election district under hypothetically different rules for counting (or excluding) prisoners as “residents” and as “eligible voters.” Criminal disenfranchisement laws, which strip voting rights from people with past criminal convictions, are in flux (at this writing, laws differ from state to state). For districting purposes, prison populations are distinctive: they are geographically concentrated populations of voting-age persons, typically skewed toward minorities. Depending upon the state, imprisoned populations may count as residents and eligible voters; or as residents (but not as eligible voters); or as neither.