Prisoner-based gerrymandering?
Mar. 3rd, 2009 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bolsonFrom this morning's Democracy Now:
So, a positive feedback cycle: powerful state legislators get prison projects built in their districts, get more people for the count but have a relatively smaller voter base. Small voter base likes the money coming in to the district, likes the power they have, re-elects their legislator.
I wonder how pronounced the situation is. I should check the Census data to see if there is an "in prison" column to the data along with all the other attributes.
"... people who are incarcerated in Upstate communities are actually counted as residents of those districts, not as residents of the districts in New York City, where the majority of our state’s prisoners come from."
"... can’t vote, but count as residents ..."
So, a positive feedback cycle: powerful state legislators get prison projects built in their districts, get more people for the count but have a relatively smaller voter base. Small voter base likes the money coming in to the district, likes the power they have, re-elects their legislator.
I wonder how pronounced the situation is. I should check the Census data to see if there is an "in prison" column to the data along with all the other attributes.
