U.S. Census and Voter Suppression? (1 of 2)

A recent University of Memphis Law Review article fleshes out how routine U.S. Census undercounting or possible miscounting facilitates voter suppression and gerrymandering. The article, by Molly Danahy and Danielle Lang, provides context to the recent controversy over the proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census.

The authors beleive the Census undercounts and distorts the representation of minority communities and has done so throughout its history. Some of the reasons for this concern the ongoing problem of counting hard-to-count populations and how the Census deals with prison populations. This post focuses on “prison gerrymandering.” The next post will cover census undercounting.… Read the rest