Voting

League of Women Voters - On September 10th, the Census Bureau announced it would make sweeping changes to how we count people on the census. The proposed rule would count only US citizens and green card holders, NOT other visa holders or undocumented immigrants. This would severely distort population counts and give an inaccurate representation of communities when apportionment and redistricting happen.

But the proposed rule doesn’t stop there. It would stop collecting race and ethnicity data and ban the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data from any future Census Bureau surveys, including the census. These data are vital for how state and local governments plan services like education, public health needs, emergency services, disaster planning, and more. Additionally, many organizations beyond the government and public institutions rely on the Census Bureau for accurate, reliable data.

These changes are unprecedented and unconstitutional. Further, the Census Bureau only gave the public 33 days to comment on a process that would normally allow at least 90 days for public comment. This rule would create bad data and erode a key legal doctrine of representation: “one person, one vote.” If this residence rule is implemented, there would be major undercounts and Congressional districts would lack the data to accurately apportion communities.