Dallas Morning News: “Nearly a quarter of a million people were incarcerated in Texas when the census was taken last year. When lawmakers redrew the state’s voting maps this fall, these inmates were counted in the prison towns where they were locked up, rather than where they lived beforehand.
A Dallas Morning News analysis of census and prison data found that this practice, which opponents call “prison gerrymandering,” inflates the political power of Republican districts while draining clout from Democratic strongholds. It also makes more conservative, rural areas of the state look larger and more diverse than they truly are.
Republicans say the maps are legal and fair. They argue there isn’t a viable alternative for counting prisoners, and changing that won’t shift the balance of power in Texas to Democrats.
But The News found the state’s new legislative maps would look significantly different if Texas stopped this practice. Reallocating prisoners to the places where they were charged would cause nearly 1 in 5 counties — most of which went for Donald Trump last year — to lose population to more urban, liberal areas. Not counting prisoners at all would throw nearly three dozen House districts out of population boundaries, making them subject to court challenge.”