TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - A federal judge has ruled that the current voter districts in Jefferson County are unconstitutional.
A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the county's use of prison gerrymandering was unconstitutional. Prison gerrymandering is where state and local governments include prisoners as residents in their redistricting plans for purposes of drawing their election lines in such a way that reduces the voting strength of actual residents in the area.
Under current district lines, the Jefferson Correction Institution made up more than 40% of the voting age population in District 3, the ruling said. This meant the other nearly 60% of people in the district had more voting power, the judge ruled.
This was the first federal court ruling in the country to claim that gerrymandering violated constitutional rights of the citizens, the ACLU said.
According to the ruling, the county must submit a newly proposed map that complies with the ruling by April 4. If they fail to do this, the court will draw its own temporary plan.
