Testimony in support of H-7070
An Act Relating To Elections -- Residence Of Individuals In Government Custody Act
House Committee on State Government & Elections
February 6, 2024
Alan Krinsky, Director of Research & Fiscal Policy
Regarding the redistricting process for elections, the Economic Progress Institute supports Representative Cherie Cruz’s H-7070, which would require – for individuals under the custody of the State of Rhode Island – the use of actual residence addresses rather than the addresses of state facilities.
It is well-known from discussions around the 2020 redistricting process that counting individuals as living, for example, at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI), dilutes the voting power of voters in the rest of the state. Indeed, for the approximately one-third of individuals at the ACI who retain the right to vote, they must vote by absentee ballot in their home districts and cannot vote in the districts in which they are being counted for purposes of representation and redistricting. It is only sensible that such individuals should be counted where they can vote and exercise their political voice. Those individuals who cannot vote still count when assessing representation, and they should be counted in their home communities.
There is also an equity component to this, with Black Rhode Islanders and districts with larger minority populations being more likely to lose out in representation and political power.
Although for the 2020 redistricting process, some effort was made to correct the “prison gerrymandering” problem, it is time to address this permanently in statute. We urge passage of this measure.