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Connecticut Voters' Group Speaks Out Against Gerrymandering

The Connecticut State Capitol Building in Hartford
MaxVT
/
Flickr
The Connecticut State Capitol Building in Hartford

A voter’s rights group wants Connecticut lawmakers to avoid gerrymandering new district lines following the 2020 census.

Connecticut’s population increased by about 32,000 residents in the 2020 census. Whiter suburban and rural communities saw a drop in population of about 10 percent. The growth was among minority communities in the state’s larger cities.

Cherie Quikmire is with Common Cause Connecticut.

“We make sure that districts do not remove voting rights from Black and Brown and other people of color. And that we try to retain some contiguity and some continuity in the communities to benefit the voters not to benefit the elected officials,” Quikmire said.

She said the bipartisan redistricting commission should comply with a new state law that specifically prohibits prison gerrymandering. It requires inmates to be counted in their home voting districts, not in the mostly white, rural districts where they are incarcerated.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.