With the start of a new decade, America is battling a pandemic, preparing for one of the most significant elections in history, and conducting the 2020 census. The chance to fill out the census only occurs every 10 years, and this year it has fallen during the most dire time of the past decade.
Why should you fill out the census?
The census allows states, cities, and communities to budget and receive adequate funds from the federal government. In fact, according to the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, the federal government distributed $1.504 trillion to “state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses, and households across the nation,” accounting for 7.8 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2017. The census itself is a tool that the United States uses primarily to count the individuals living in a single household. More broadly, it allows the government to allocate funds to the building of certain community-based services, such as hospitals, schools, and roads, and public works. For example, a business may use census data to decide the best location for factories or offices and stores to be built in a particular community, effectively creating jobs for residents of this community.
The census also influences locations for building homes and the allocation of emergency preparedness. Perhaps most relevant at the moment, census data allows for the community-based solutions that I talked about in my last article on defunding the police. These solutions can range anywhere from policy-based initiatives to quality-of-life and consumer advocacy. While creating budgets is one of the most pronounced uses of the census, reapportionment is the original legal purpose.
Apportionment and President Trump’s recent Memorandum
The Constitution holds that the United States House of Representatives must be reapportioned every 10 years, allowing for the 435 seats to be redivided based on state populations. According to the 14th Amendment, voting districts within these states must be equal in population, but, as we know, districts either increase or decrease in population. Thus, voting district lines will change as House seats either rise or fall for each state.
On July 21, 2020, Trump issued a pointed memorandum calling for “the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the President’s discretion under the law.”
The 14th Amendment requires the federal government to count the “whole number of persons in each state,” regardless of citizenship status, making Trump’s order unconstitutional. Furthermore, Congress is responsible for carrying out the “actual enumeration” of the country’s population in “such manner as they shall by law direct.” Thus, citizenship status is neither asked, nor required on the 2020 census.
Census Campaign Manager Cesar Bautista Sanchez at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said that this causes “doubt in immigrant communities, as they are the hardest to count due to lack of information and fear.”
It is important to note that the census is a confidential document, meaning that filling out the census will not affect citizenship status.
Census 2020 Implications and How to Help
Sanchez said that “because of COVID-19, the deadline to fill out the census was extended to Oct 31, but it has now been shortened by one month and will end on Sept 30 for the Census Bureau to complete the final count and turn in their report to Congress on Dec 31.” According to Sanchez, messaging and reinforcing that the census is confidential and private is one of the best ways to spread awareness about the 2020 census. A citizenship question does not show up on the census, as Sanchez said, “everybody gets counted, including international students.” TIRRC launched a statewide campaign called Yes I Count Tennessee, providing resources for individuals who are looking for additional help filling out their census questions, including language translation, guides, pledge cards, toolkits, webinars, and commonly asked questions.
Other vulnerable populations, such as children, risk not being counted in the census. According to the Leadership Conference Education Fund, 2.2 million children were not accounted for in 2010. Additionally, 4.5 million children under age five live in hard-to-count (HTC) neighborhoods, a number that is even more uncertain during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Census Bureau, HTC populations are “those for whom a real or perceived barrier exists to full and representative inclusion in the data collection process,” such as historically marginalized individuals, or those experiencing homelessness. For children, the consequences of undercounting may be exacerbated during COVID-19 because the census dictates how certain programs, like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), The Federal Foster Care Program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are funded. The census also affects funding for the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program and Medicaid, putting many other HTC populations at risk.
It is important to fill out the census now more than ever. For historical information and resources on who can be counted in the census, the Constitutional Accountability Center has created this resource.The census can be filled out online, by phone, or by mail. Official residence criteria can be found here.
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