Virginia bill against prison-based gerrymandering passes House unanimously

HB 13, which would allow more counties to reject prison-based gerrymandering, passed unanimously in the Virginia House and now advances to the Senate.

by Leah Sakala, February 2, 2012

Yesterday HB 13, which would allow more counties to reject prison-based gerrymandering, passed unanimously in the Virginia House. The bill, sponsored by Del. Riley Ingram, will now advance to the Senate.

Current Virgina law allows a county to exclude prison populations for redistricting purposes only if the prison population makes up 12% or more of the county’s total population. HB 13 would allow any county with a single district that’s 12% or more incarcerated to exclude prison populations for redistricting purposes, more than doubling the number of counties eligible to avoid prison-based gerrymandering.

As the Roanoke Times so succinctly put it, HB 13 “would move the commonwealth in the right direction” towards ending prison-based gerrymandering.



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