Calvin v. Jefferson County
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redistricting procedures |
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2020 |
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Calvin v. Jefferson County is a lawsuit filed March 9, 2015, in the Florida Northern District Court, challenging the 2013 redistricting plan of Jefferson County as "prison gerrymandering."[1] The redistricting plan takes into account prison inmate population, which the plaintiffs argue violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs allege that because the inmate population does not have the right to vote, the rest of the district population has an inflated political influence and their votes are more powerful.[1][2][3]
Background
In 2013, the Jefferson County Commission and School Board district maps were redrawn to incorporate the inmate population of the county. The inmate population, housed at Jefferson Correction Institution, accounted for 43.2 percent of the county's voting-age population. The inmates do not have the right to vote under Florida law, which removes the right upon a felony conviction.[1]
Potential impact
Some states, including Delaware, Illinois and Virginia, do not count inmate population in their district plans; instead, these states count inmates as residents of their home districts. Similar legislation has been introduced in other states, such as Connecticut and Texas. The plaintiffs seek to replace the redistricting plan with one that would count inmates as residents of their home districts.[4]
Evenwel v. Abbott
- See also: Evenwel v. Abbott
Evenwel v. Abbott was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 2016. At issue was the constitutionality of state legislative districts in Texas. The plaintiffs, Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger, argued that district populations ought to take into account only the number of registered or eligible voters residing within those districts. Total population counts have typically been used for redistricting purposes. Total population tallies include non-voting residents, such as illegal immigrants, prisoners, and children. The plaintiffs alleged that this tabulation method dilutes the voting power of citizens residing in districts that are home to smaller concentrations of non-voting residents. The court ruled 8-0 on April 4, 2016, that a state or locality can use total population counts for redistricting purposes. According to the court's majority opinion, penned by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "What constitutional history and our prior decisions strongly suggest, settled practice confirms. Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries. Appellants have shown no reason for the court to disturb this longstanding use of total population."[5][6][7][8][7][9][10][11]
See also
- Voting rights for convicted felons
- Redistricting
- Redistricting in Florida
- Florida Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ACLU, "ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging “Prison Gerrymandering” Election Districts in Florida County", March 9, 2015
- ↑ Justia.com, "CALVIN et al v. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS et al," accessed July 9, 2015
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "Lawsuit Filed Against “Prisoner Gerrymandering” in Jefferson County, Florida,"accessed March 9, 2015
- ↑ Think Progress, "Prison Gerrymandering Lawsuit Accuses Florida County Of Skewing The Vote," accessed March 10, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Supreme Court to hear challenge to Texas redistricting plan," May 26, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Supreme Court Agrees to Settle Meaning of ‘One Person One Vote,'" May 26, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 SCOTUSblog, "Evenwel v. Abbott," accessed May 27, 2015
- ↑ Associated Press, "Supreme Court to hear Texas Senate districts case," May 26, 2015
- ↑ Supreme Court Brief, "Supreme Court Inadvertently Announces Argument Date in Voting Case," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Election Law Blog, "Supreme Court Inadvertently Announces Argument Date in Voting Case," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Evenwel v. Abbott Opinion," April 4, 2016
