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Maryland
The U.S. Census Bureau counts incarcerated people where they are confined not where they are from. Using these counts to draw state and county legislative districts enhances the weight of a vote cast by people who live near prisons at the expense of everyone else in the state or county. Maryland passed a first-in the-nation law to correct that inequity.
The No Representation Without Population Act, introduced in the House of Delegates by Delegate Pena-Melnyk as HB496 and in the Senate by Senator Pugh as SB400, January 29, 2010 was signed by the Governor on April 13, 2010.
See the PPI/Demos press release: Maryland enacts law to count incarcerated people at their home addresses: First-in-nation law will improve fairness and accuracy of the Census data used for redistricting; or the ACLU/NAACP release: ACLU, NAACP Celebrate Passage of “Prisoners of the Census” Redistricting Legislation
The state released the adjusted population data on March 22, 2011, pursuant to the state regulations (Title 34, Subtitle 5), which detail the law's implementation.
Fact sheets
- Ending prison-based gerrymandering would aid the African-American vote in Maryland [PDF] by Prison Policy Initiative
- States are Authorized to Adjust Census Data to End Prison-Based Gerrymandering, and Many Already Do [PDF] by Prison Policy Initiative and Demos
Reports
- Importing Constituents: Incarcerated People and Political Clout in Maryland, by Peter Wagner and Olivia Cummings, March 4, 2010 is our district-by-district analysis of how crediting Baltimore City’s incarcerated residents to remote districts distorts democracy and dilutes the votes of all voters in all other districts.
Testimony
- Hearing on Senate Bill 400 before the Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee of the Maryland State Senate, March 4, 2010:
- Testimony of Peter Wagner (Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative)
- Testimony of Senator Catherine Pugh, District 40
- Testimony of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland
- Testimony of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, Inc.
- Testimony of the Somerset County NAACP
- Testimony of the Delta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
- Testimony of Maryland PIRG
- Hearing on House Bill 496 before the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee of the Maryland State Assembly, March 8, 2010:
- Testimony of Brenda Wright (Director, Democracy Program Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action)
- Do you have copies of other submitted testimonies? Contact us.
Press coverage & editorials
Interview with Peter Wagner on Metro Watch (audio), with Gloria Minott, WPFW (DC), December 7, 2011- Maryland Law Counts Prisoners According to Pre-Incarceration Residence, by Mike Rigby, Prison Legal News, August 2, 2011
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Prison Gerrymandering Still an Issue for the Eastern Shore, by Karen Hosler, WYPR (Baltimore, MD) July 20, 2010.
- Podcast: a strategic retrospective on how the "No Representation Without Population Act" was passed, interview with Cindy Boersma, Legislative Director of the ACLU of Maryland, by Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative, May 27, 2010
- Reclaiming ‘one man, one vote’ Our view: It's only fair that prison inmates from Baltimore be counted as city residents, Baltimore Sun, editorial, April 27, 2010
- Inmates to play new redistricting role, by Liam Ferrell, The Capitol (Annapolis), April 27, 2010
Our View: Victory for Fairness, Delmarva Daily Times editorial, April 17, 2010 
Rights groups rejoice in Somerset election change, by Liz Holland,
Delmarva Daily Times, April 16, 2010
A Fairer Way to Count, New York Times editorial, April
15, 2010 - Maryland’s Big Step on Prison Census Reform, by Matt Kelley, Change.org, April 14, 2010
- The Census and Democracy: Maryland Fixes a Major Error, by Eric Lotke, The Huffington Post, April 14, 2010
- Bill would affect voting districts, by Liz Holland, The Daily Times (Somerset County, MD) April 7, 2010
Fairer election districts ahead: Bill to remove inmates from redistricting formulas passed The Daily Times (Somerset County, MD) April 5, 2010- Our View: Exclude inmates from voting district The Daily Times (Somerset County, MD) November 24, 2009
- Group wants Census to bar inmates, The Daily Times (Somerset County, MD) November 23, 2009
Follow us
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Meet us
- Feb 18, 2012: Peter Wagner will discuss prison-based gerrymandering on a Race & Voting panel at the RebLaw Conference at 11am at Yale Law School in New Haven CT.
- April 26-28, 2012: Peter Wagner will be speaking about prison-based gerrymandering at the A New Vision of Black Freedom: The Manning Marable Memorial Conference at Columbia Univ. in New York City. Exact day/time TBA.
Not near you? Invite Peter to your town.
