The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Jefferson County Commission, the county’s school board and supervisor of elections challenging the inclusion of state prison inmates in the drawing of election district maps. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee by the ACLU on behalf of concerned county residents, says the redistricting plan adopted by the commission and school board in 2013 violates the constitution’s “one person, one vote” requirement and amounts to “prison-based gerrymandering.”
By including the prison population as a part of District 3, the lawsuit contends, the voting strength of residents in that district is inflated while the political power of residents in the county’s other four districts — particularly minority residents — is diluted and creates a unfair advantage for white voters.
“The 2013 Redistricting Plan has a discriminatory effort on Jefferson County residents outside of District 3,” states the lawsuit, which seeks the court to stop any future elections based on the plan and order it replaced.
Full Article: Jefferson County sued over redistricting plan.