Following up on Frank Askinâs point, below is a link to an amicus brief
filed with the Second Circuit by the National Voting Rights Institute and
Prison Policy Initiative detailing the interplay between disenfranchisement
laws and legislative redistricting in New York.  As Rick Hasen has reported,
the Second Circuit has granted rehearing en banc in Muntaqim v. Coombe, a
case alleging that disenfranchisement of prisoners and parolees in New York
violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in view of its racially
discriminatory impact.

In drawing state legislative districts, New York uses Census Bureau data
that counts the state's mostly urban and minority prisoners as residents of
the mostly white upstate prison counties where they are incarcerated, rather
than as residents of the home communities where they resided prior to
incarceration - even though prisoners are not deemed legal residents of
their prisons for other purposes.  Several upstate legislative districts in
New York lack sufficient population to meet accepted one-person, one-vote
standards without counting disenfranchised prisoners as part of their
population base.  At the same time, several heavily minority districts in
New York City are overpopulated in relation to ideal district size and would
in all likelihood be entitled to greater representation if prisoners were
not credited to the upstate prison districts.

This is just one example of the impact of disenfranchisement on
non-incarcerated persons.  The amicus brief argues that the Court should
consider the redistricting implications of disenfranchisement as part of the
ãtotality of circumstancesä that must be examined in addressing the
plaintiffâs Voting Rights Act claim.  The brief is available here:
<http://www.nvri.org/about/new_york_state_policies.shtml>

The brief draws on Peter Wagnerâs report for the Prison Policy Initiative,
Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York (April
2002), available here: <http://www.prisonpolicy.org/importing>

Brenda Wright
Managing Attorney
National Voting Rights Institute
27 School Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA  02108
   Phone  617-624-3900
   Fax     617-624-3911
www.nvri.org
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