Representative Jim O’Day<\/a> kicked off the testimony in support of the resolution, explaining why it’s important that the people who are incarcerated in his district be counted at their home addresses in the next Census. Aleks spoke and submitted joint testimony<\/a> on behalf of Prison Policy Initiative<\/a> and Dēmos<\/a>, and she was joined by Pam Wilmot of Common Cause Massachusetts<\/a>, Professor Carroy Ferguson<\/a> of UMass Boston, Kevin Peterson of the New Democracy Coalition, Marinella Blake of EPOCA<\/a>, Sunni Ali of the Boston Workers\u2019 Alliance<\/a>, Rahsaan Hall of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice<\/a>, Sara Brady from MassVOTE<\/a>, and Gavi Wolfe from the ACLU of Massachusetts<\/a> (testimony<\/a>).<\/p>\n We also submitted a joint letter<\/a> from 24 Massachusetts-based organizations calling on the Joint Committee of Election Laws to pass the resolution, and Leah Aden of the NAACP LDF<\/a> submitted a memo of support for the resolution<\/a>. As we note in the joint letter,<\/p>\n The Census Bureau considers state and local redistricting to be the second most important use of census data, and actively solicits feedback from states on their experiences using Census data for reapportionment. The Massachusetts Legislature’s opinion on this matter carries great weight with the Census Bureau, so we urge you to pass Resolution S 309\/H 3185.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As always, we’ll keep you posted with this blog and our Massachusetts organizing page<\/a> as soon as updates are available!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
![\"Aleks](\"\/images\/ma_hearing_March_27_2013_590w.png\")
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