Politico: Census to add controversial question on citizenship status

[Gass3268]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/26/census-citizenship-questions-487399?lo=ap_b1

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Let's go over this for a second:

1. Republicans have refused to fully fund the census to the point where they've had to stop testing new technologies meant to make future census operations cheaper, but also basic testing of their operation for all but one round. So now they want to add in a new question that very blatantly will cause volatile results, given Trump's ramped up ICE raids and anti-immigration rhetoric?

2. If they wanted to add this question, they should have done it years ago and provided full funding to test it until they could find a way to mitigate reduced response rates. This is incredibly irresponsible to drop this kind of question in at the last minute. It doesn't matter if they didn't have the power to do it before. All that means is that they should prepare it for the 2030 census instead. It's not like it is 2012 and they are preparing for the next census. This is going to happen just something like 2 years from now.

3. Does anyone seriously believe this is for the Voting Rights Act? From Republicans? They have wanted to get rid of the VRA for years, and we're supposed to believe them when they say they want to better enforce it? First off, they already ask the citizenship question in the ACS, which should have been good enough as it is. Second, no one has actually said they need better data for the VRA. This is just Republicans concern trolling with the census, all so they can under-count minorities for both federal funding and gerrymandering-related reasons.


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This is the first census Republicans have run since 1990 and they are already screwing it up for absurdly bad reasons. First they refuse to provide proper funding, now they air drop in a controversial question just a couple years before it goes live. Is it really any mystery why Republicans are called an irresponsible governing party? The census is important for so many reasons, including for business. To screw with it for partisan gain and to notch a "win" for the base is incredibly petty and exactly the kind of thing a truly irresponsible governing party would do.

If Democrats have any sense, they will try and put a stop to this via any means necessary when/if the day they assume a House and/or Senate majority.

To be fair, the most recent budget has the Census getting more money then they even asked for. Also California has already said they would sue to prevent this.

[Gass3268]

To be fair, the most recent budget has the Census getting more money then they even asked for. Also California has already said they would sue to prevent this.

They have; I was happy to see that too. But it doesn't make up for years of nickle and diming everything, even the programs that were meant to cut costs in the future (but required higher upfront investment). Republicans have constantly been cheap about this, to the point where they just make the problems worse.

But this is a whole new ball game. It's a continuation of actions under Trump showing absolutely no hesitation to weaponize every single inch of the federal government against the opponents of the Republican Party, both political and otherwise. I think that laughably fake Voting Rights Act excuse provided proves that this action was tainted from the minute it was brought up in the slimy halls of Trump's White House.

Democrats need to fight this from occurring, but if they don't succeed, I agree with this:

https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/978482101661118465

[Gass3268]

Wonderful news! Now we will be able to draw districts with Citizen Voting Age Population.

Wait, districts are currently not drawn that way? In that case, including this question is obviously good.

The Constitution says persons, not citizens.

[Gass3268]

Oh, also, republicans shouldn't want this either. Undercounting immigrants will also effect red states. Immigrants don't respond and Texas won't gain 3 congressional seats.

Yeah, from a pure redistribution of seats aspect, this could end up being a wash. That being said, the census is used to determine who gets emergency resources, medical resources, transportation funding, etc. so anything that does not get close to the real number of people is determination.

[Gass3268]

At this point they need to drop all the demographic questions, all we need the census for is to find out population numbers, the demographics of the people should be of no concern to the government.

That would violate the VRA.

[Gass3268]

The Constitution via the 14th Amendment Section 2 literally says "counting the whole number of persons in each State." They use the word citizen Section 1 but not in Section 2, which means they deliberately wanted the census to count people, not citizens when dealing with apportionment of seats.

[Gass3268]

I have to imagine that undocumented immigrants *already* have a minimal response rate when it comes to the Census, no?

Im clearly in the minority in that I think this is a bad rule that should not be instituted on its own merits, but that it’s effect will be negligible overall compared to how the Census already undercounts people primarily in poor rural areas.

There is fears that it could disgorge participation from legal immigrants and minority citizens.

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/981190790226554880