Editing Gerrymandering (section)

===Prison-based gerrymandering===
Prison-based gerrymandering occurs when prisoners are counted as residents of a district, increasing its population with nonvoters when assigning political apportionment. This phenomenon violates the principle of [[one person, one vote]] because, although many prisoners come from (and return to) urban communities, they are counted as "residents" of the rural districts that contain large prisons, artificially inflating the political representation in districts with prisons at the expense of voters in districts without them.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/news/2006/05/20/NYT-gerrymandering|title=Prison-Based Gerrymandering|date=20 May 2006|newspaper=The New York Times|type=Editorial}}</ref> Others contend that prisoners should not be counted as residents of their original districts when they do not reside there and are [[disenfranchisement|not legally eligible to vote]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/NYS_A9710-D.html|title=New York Prison-Based Gerrymandering Bill – Policy|website=www.prisonersofthecensus.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/NYS_A11597.html|title=New York Prison-Based Gerrymandering Technical Amendment|website=www.prisonersofthecensus.org}}</ref>

US states Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, and Tennessee have all passed laws that restrict prison-based gerrymandering. In 2014, Massachusetts passed a resolution that asked the Census Bureau to stop counting incarcerated people as residents in the district where they are incarcerated. Pennsylvania also voted to redraw districts in a way that avoids prison-based gerrymandering.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PennLive.com |first=Spotlight PA {{!}} For |date=2021-08-24 |title=In major shift, Pa. panel votes to count incarcerated people in home districts, not state prisons |url=https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/08/in-major-shift-pa-panel-votes-to-count-incarcerated-people-in-home-districts-not-state-prisons.html |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=pennlive |language=en}}</ref>