Reports says prison gerrymandering gives unfair voting power to four Florida House districts
While both Blue and Red states (including Florida) undertaking mid-decade congressional redistricting ahead of the 2026 election, a report critizes the way the U.S. Census and state government count prison populations for the purpose of redistricting.
It’s called prison gerrymandering, and the study from the Prison Policy Initiative says that four state House districts in Florida illustrate how the decennial U.S. Census Bureau’s policy of counting prisoners where they are incarcerated instead of where they hail from distorts the process and gives some residents a louder voice in government.
The issue is not new to Florida counties with prison populations.
In 2015, the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit challenging district maps for county commission and school board elections in Jefferson County in North Florida, alleging the incarcerated population made up more than 42% of the voting age population in one district. A federal judge ruled in 2016 that the five county commission districts violated the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote.”
https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/10/16/reports-says-prison-gerrymandering-gives-unfair-voting-power-to-four-florida-house-districts/