How did a man with a PowerPoint presentation turn into a piece of legislation I pushed on my legislators and allies?  With his passion for social justice and intelligence to develop a core issue about democracy.  I’m honoring that dedication by voting for him for the Maria Leavy Tribute Award.

Peter Wagner built the national movement to keep the prison industrial complex from exercising undue influence on the political process.  He exposed an ancient Census Bureau rule that allowed pro-prison legislators to bar people in prison from voting and then claim their political clout.  It’s called prison-based gerrymandering.  It violates the constitutional guarantee of “one-person-one-vote” and resembles the three-fifths clause of the Constitution that gave the South extra representation for their slaves.

Peter demonstrated that the problem was real, and then he changed the frame to build a bipartisan urban and rural movement where almost everyone benefits from ending prison-based gerrymandering.  Today, four states have outlawed the practice of prison-based gerrymandering and the Census Bureau is starting to take notice.

Working for much of the decade without formal funding or institutional support, Peter built the movement from the ground up.  He used his blog on the PrisonersoftheCensus.org website to develop the movement’s consensus around messaging and the necessary federal, state and local solutions.  He seized the imagination of the press, of criminal justice reformers, and good government groups and over a decade built one of the major civil rights victories of the past decade.

Peter deserves credit for having the vision to see how mass incarceration was diluting our right to vote, and for having both the skills and the drive to build a successful movement for change.

Vote for Peter, Here.