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Historically, prison inmates have been counted in the Census as residing in the county where they are incarcerated, which redistricting and criminal justice reform advocates say inflates an area's population -- and therefore political power and federal funding allocations -- in favor of the more rural, less diverse districts where prison are typically located.
Colorado has its first set of citizen redistricting commissioners. On Tuesday, six of the eventual 12 congressional redistricting commissioners were randomly selected from a group of qualified applicants. The congressional redistricting commission now has two Republicans, two Democrats and two non-party-affiliated voters. Eventually there will be four from each group. Next, the remaining pool of qualified and reviewed applicants will be provided to legislative leaders who will further narrow the pool before a final random selection and judicial selection process. The same process is moving al...