Court Raises Question About Census Counts of Prisoners
by TChris
TalkLeft has repeatedly (e.g., here, here, and here) called attention to the Census Bureau's unfair practice of counting prisoners as residents of the counties in which the prisons that house them are situated. The practice boosts the population counts of the rural areas in which the prisons are located, which boosts their representation in Congress and state legislatures, and increases their share of government spending. Rural areas tend to vote Republican, so Republicans have little incentive to change the system.
The good news is that courts may be willing to remedy the problem, even if legislators fail to act.
[L]ast week, a federal appeals court in New York hinted that counting prisoners as upstaters might illegally dilute the voting rights of downstaters.
If that legal argument is pursued and upheld, the political implications could be profound. Republicans now have a four-seat margin in the [state] Senate. A shift in only a few seats could give the Democrats, who already control the Assembly, a majority in the Senate, and with it, enormous power over legislative and Congressional redistricting.
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