Legislators listen up, we want fair elections!

Legislators listen up, we want fair elections! You can't count constituents in your house of corrections!

by Leah Sakala, June 12, 2014

I have the good fortune to be a bike commuter for most of the year, which gives me some good bike path thinking time every morning. A couple of years ago, I was riding along and mulling over ways to explain prison gerrymandering (as you do) when the lyrics started to come to me for a new spin on the classic Yankee Doodle.

Here’s how it starts:

If there’s a prison in your district,
don’t get so elated
‘cause it’s not fair to count folks there
who are incarcerated

Your district may be padded full,
but please don’t you gloat
’cause you are violating my right
to one person, one vote

Chorus:
Legislators listen up,
we want fair elections!
You can’t count constituents
in your house of corrections

The full sing-along print-out version is here.