Impact on democracy at the state level

As of March 2010, we've analyzed 27 states, district by district, to determine the problems caused by the Census Bureau's method of counting people in prison:

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Idaho
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• New Jersey
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New York
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Virginia
• Utah
• Wisconsin

Research in other states is ongoing. Where full district analyses are not yet available for your state, see our report: Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: A 50 state guide.

Also available is information about how redistricting works and why counting less than 1% of the U.S. population in the wrong place has such a significant effect:

• Redistricting Matters: Small changes in the boundary lines mean huge electoral effects uses some simple illustrations to demonstrate why redistricting matters.
• Hanging in the balance? is about New York State Senate district 34, a Westchester county district that uses Bronx county residents to meet population requirements, against the dictates of the New York state constitution.
• How prisons alter the one-person one-vote principle uses a New York district to show how including prison populations changes the shape of prison districts.