Oppose Harmful Changes to the U.S. Census

A fair and accurate U.S. Census is both a constitutional mandate and an imperative to a functioning democracy. The data collected determines apportionment counts (including the Electoral College), supports redistricting efforts, and informs policymakers at local, state, and federal levels. The data is also critical to the annual distribution of more than $1.5 trillion through hundreds of federal programs. Schools, roads, hospitals, emergency preparedness, and more are reliant on accurate data provided by the Census so that towns, cities, and states can function well for all residents. A new proposed rule by the Department of Commerce would change the way the Census is conducted in two extremely harmful ways.

First, it would change the residence criteria by calling for an unprecedented exclusion of non-citizens who are not green card holders, clearly running afoul of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This would mean that international students, work visa holders, recognized refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented individuals would all lose representation. The Pew Research Center estimates that this represents a staggering 16 million individuals in total.

Second, it would eliminate questions about race and ethnicity from the Census. Without these critical data, it would be far more difficult to track disparities in everything from from healthcare to the environment, making it nearly impossible to enforce civil rights laws. It would also skew the distribution of federal funding away from communities that need it the most and from programs that were designed to protect them.

Call and demand that your representatives speak out against the proposed Census rule change, then leave a public comment opposing the change before October 13th.

Note: Public comments become part of the public record, so please avoid including personal or sensitive information in your submission.

Content for this call topic kindly provided by Fair Count