8 Reasons You Should Take the 2020 Census Seriously
Are you worried about the 2020 census? You should. We should all probably care more about the 2020 census because John Thompson, director of the Census Bureau and the person in charge of conducting the 2020 census, stepped down last week . It’s hard to overestimate how big news this is, and yet this story doesn’t get a lot of attention – perhaps because there is a lot of other big news out there and, well, the human brain can only handle it.
Losing the Census Bureau Director at this stage of the game is a big problem, because a leaderless Census Bureau means a possibly inaccurate census in 2020, and it will have side effects that will affect literally every area of American life. Thompson’s departure wouldn’t be such a big deal if we had an administration that prioritized a fair and accurate census – but it looks like the White House is, to put it mildly, busy with other things.
To understand what Thompson’s departure means, I spoke with Kenneth Prewitt, former director of the Census Bureau, current Carnegie professor of public affairs and vice president of global centers at Columbia University, about why we should care. And more importantly, why should everyone care, because it would be all too easy to let this story disappear into the maelstrom of the current news cycle.
1. Literally every American social program uses census data to allocate resources.
Your fire department, your schools – the data collected in the ten-year census determines, for example, whether new schools are opened or existing ones closed. Transportation and education grants, among other things, are distributed pro rata. If the veterans administration wants to place a hospital for elderly veterans, it obviously wants to choose a location with many elderly veterans. If the numbers do not match, the hospital is in the wrong place, and the veterinarians receive no medical attention.
Pruitt continues: “Or get emergency help. After each census, [firefighters] recalibrate [their] entire emergency response system: where have people moved, what is the age structure, do they have telephones, are they elderly, do they live alone? All of this is absorbed by the fire brigades, so when they get into an emergency – a flood, a tornado – they know where the people to be rescued are. If they are wrong, they don’t find people. ”
If you want your area to have all the services you need, you need to consider your neighbors. “If you are trying to govern society and respond to the needs of citizens, you have to know who they are, what their conditions are and where they are,” says Pruitt.
2. Conducting an accurate census requires money.
Thompson resigned due to budget disputes. Pruitt tells me, “Right now they are underfunded. Another thing that is now seriously underfunded is the [census] advertising campaign, “which was first done by professionals in 2000 and 2010.” This is very difficult material … and you can’t include it. in the last 15 days or even in the last 15 weeks … and they don’t have the budget to do it right now. “
To ensure an accurate census, you need to open field offices, conduct outreach and hire a huge temporary workforce. Lack of money means a shortage of workers for the census, which means that the number of people will be underestimated. “People who are not sufficiently accounted for are invisible.”
3. Fair representation depends on a fair census.
The census determines how the 435 members of the House are distributed among the states. Each decade, the population in some states increases, in others it decreases, and representatives are redistributed accordingly. As Pruitt notes in a recent interview with the Washington Post , “re-reallocation of resources is fundamental to the fairness of our representative democracy.”
4. You need a director who knows what he is doing.
If a new qualified director is not ready to take office on July 1, even on a temporary basis, other employees will start leaving for another job. “There will be a moral problem, and there will be people who have job opportunities who will go somewhere else. Especially strong statisticians. They love the census because it’s a big deal, ”says Pruitt. Skeleton Brigade won’t get a good score.
5. Everyone wants a good census.
This is a bipartisan issue. Everyone wants their area and state to be counted, and exact numbers are needed; fire stations and schools want adequate numbers; retailers need accurate estimates of residents before investing in a specific community. Pruitt notes: “Businesses want good numbers. They don’t want to mistakenly locate Wal-Mart because they misunderstood the makeup of the population. In some respects, the business sector is one of the best advocates for a quality census. ”
6. But you could put your hand on the scales, knowingly or because of underfunding.
Historically, black Americans were not counted in the census; Pruitt also singles out “hard to count” communities: the poor, non-English speakers, immigrants, people who are suspicious of the government. Finding and counting these people takes a lot of effort, as well as money and organized staff. “In pretty quiet ways, in small ways, you can selectively underestimate. You do it by what you spend your ad dollar on. You do it where you place your best employees. You do it where you open offices. “
Pruitt stresses that he does not mean that someone in the current administration is trying to selectively understate credentials, but that even the usual bureaucratic problems like lack of funding or disorganization can really make matters worse. Vigilance is important.
7. It’s time to act.
Now you need to start planning, testing and advertising. Pruitt tells me that “these two or three years leading up to the census are as important as the census itself.” You cannot postpone the census – according to the constitution, it must be carried out every ten years, whether we are ready or not. And you cannot re-take a failed census. Community groups may shout, mayors may say, “Hey, we have a lot more people here,” but what’s done is done. This means we need to speak to our representatives (and other community leaders) right now. “I don’t know how to get the average citizen to pay attention to this until it’s too late. It’s really scary, Pruitt warns.
8. So do something.
Start by talking to the City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, churches and community groups, as well as veteran groups in your area. If no one seems to be doing anything, or they say “there will be a census in three years, who cares?” Start moving in your community on your own. Get your reps to be careful.
Pruitt says that if he was trying to mobilize people, he would put it this way: “I would say that President Trump can do a huge census. He could do a bigger census than Obama’s 2010 census, a bigger census than Clinton’s 2000 census. Indeed, a larger census than the 1790 census of George Washington. The President of the United States can conduct the largest and best census ever conducted … [Trump] loves big numbers, and he loves big numbers, which he considers himself responsible for. He may indeed be responsible for the largest and best census ever conducted. “
Clear? Someone run a hashtag.