Davidson v. City of Cranston

Because those incarcerated were counted as Cranston residents, three voters in the prison's district have as much voting power as four voters in every other city district, according to Census Bureau data. Cranston residents Karen Davidson, Debbie Flitman, Eugene Perry, and Sylvia Weber have joined the ACLU of Rhode Island as plaintiffs in the case. They are represented in federal court by Demos, the Prison Policy Initiative, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The 2012 redistricting plan counted the population of Rhode Island's only state prison complex, the Adult Correctional Institutions, as residents of Ward 6 even though the overwhelming majority of these individuals are not true residents of the district, but instead remain residents of their pre-incarceration community for virtually all legal purposes, including voting.

According to Census Bureau data, without the incarcerated population, Ward 6 has only 10,209 true constituents. Yet those constituents now wield the same political power as the roughly 13,300 constituents in each of the other wards. This dilutes the voting strength and political influence of citizens residing outside of Ward 6, in clear violation of the Equal Protection requirements of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Update: On May 24th, 2016 the District Court granted our motion for summary judgment and ordered the Cranston City Council to propose a districting plan that complies with the constitutional and legal principles outlined above. No elections to the City Council or Board of Canvassers may be held until the current ward districting plan is changed.