Group of Southwestern Virginians Sues Redistricting Commission over Prison Population Counting
Virginia | August 19, 2021
Based on population shifts reflected in 2020 Census Data, Southwestern Virginia is likely to lose a House of Delegates district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. On top of that, HB 1255, a 2020 bill passed by the General Assembly, now requires incarcerated people to be counted at the address where they were living prior to their incarceration.
That’s a problem for some districts with a significant number of prisons, including Senate District 38, where Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Tazewell) was recently elected. Hackworth is part of a group of Southwestern Virginians suing the Virginia Redistricting Commission, the state board of elections, and the Virginia Department of Elections to block the change where incarcerated people are counted.
“Virginia prisons are typically located in rural districts with greater Republican voting strength, particularly in the Southside and Southwest regions of the Commonwealth in which Petitioners are voting permanent residents (and, in Petitioner Hackworth’s case, an elected state senator,)” court documents state, noting that incarcerated people do use local infrastructure.
“Artificially reducing the populations of these areas to reassign their non-voting populations to other parts of the Commonwealth creates real and significant funding and planning problems for Petitioners’ rural communities,” the documents state. “Petitioners will still bear all of the responsibility to care for the people in their prisons, without any of the political representation they would otherwise be entitled to receive.”
The plaintiffs argue that HB 1255 was passed by the General Assembly as a way to maintain control of what was meant to be an ostensibly independent redistricting process approved by voters in a constitutional amendment… (Excerpts from the Virginia Star)