The census has historically undercounted vulnerable and economically disadvantaged communities.
For the GOP that is a feature and not a bug. The “give me every break” party wants to make sure rich white Republicans are over counted and poor brown and black Democrats are under counted. They have pulled out all stops to make sure the 2020 census is the most political census in the history of the country.
Great article- it reinforces that the GOP is only interested in elections, not in the nitty-gritty of actually governing and providing critical services.
It’s not just that in a “fair” administration, money gets allocated according to mistaken ideas of population. The skewed maps enable legislators who will vote against aid to the undercounted areas as part of preserving their own power.
Well, considering that the Census forms 1950 and prior did NOT ask if you were a citizen!
They only asked “What country were you BORN IN?”
Only the long form actually asked about Citizenship, and a small % get the long form.
Right you are, @khaaannn. I’ve looked at census documents from every year (except 1890 which was lost in a fire) doing genealogy research. The information from those old census forms has resulted in knowing more about my ancestors. For instance, whether they could read or write and what they did for a living. Whether they owned or rented their home and where they and their parents were born. Enumerators worked door-to-door so I also got to know the neighbors I heard about from my parents’ stories.
Why do we need to know the citizen status, since the entire purpose of the census was to find out just how many people lived here? The antebellum census inquired about race, but only because blacks were counted as three-fifths of whites for apportionment of the House.
This 2020 census is being engineered to deny representation through not just an undercount but by intimidation. Employers who employ illegal immigrants do so because they know they can be underpaid and treated like slaves, because who are they going to complain to for justice? Non-citizens will simply not wish to be counted, even though they are part of the economic engine driving communities, states and the nation.
This census, like the packing of reactionary federal judges, is yet another reason why elections matter. Get off your ass, America, and educate yourself so you can make an informed decision on election day. And then vote your conscience, not what some political whore on the teevee or radio told you!
My first thought was going to be that like hurricanes, Republicans’ wind and noise get all the attention but the real damage is done by flooding.