Who Counts?
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.2 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. US Constitution Art 1, §2, Clause 3
Could there be anything less controversial in the Constitution then the Census? It is the basis for our representative democracy, but it’s the simple counting of heads to determine the apportionment of representatives and taxes. No complications, just count everyone.
From the very writing of the Constitution, the Census was counting more than just “citizens.” As written, free persons, including indentured servants, were counted at one each. Indians were excluded, and all other persons, namely slaves, were counted as three fifths of a person. With the 14thAmendment to the Constitution, the “three-fifths” compromise was deleted, and after 1900, Indians both on and off of reservations were beginning to be counted. By 1930, Indians were fully included.
It is supposed to be a head count of every person in the country. Recently there have been concerns about “under-counting” of homeless folks and those who are in the country without documentation. The current census is done by “household,” with the “head of household” filling out information for everyone who resides under their roof. But for those who don’t have literal “roofs” it is more difficult to gather the information. However, the census takers try, physically going to find those folks. That’s how serious the Census is about counting – everyone.
To many Americans, it seems innocuous that the Census Bureau was asked to include this simple question on the 2020 survey:
- Is this person a citizen of the United States?
- ____ Yes, born in the United States
- ____ Yes, born in Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, or
- Northern Marianas
- ____ Yes, born abroad of U.S. citizen parent or parents
- ____ Yes, U.S. citizen by naturalization – Print year of
- naturalization ________
- ____ No, not a U.S. Citizen
There have been several censuses where they asked about the number of toilets in the house, the access to internet, and the income of the household. Up until 1950, the census always included a question about citizenship, so why shouldn’t the Census gather this information?
It is both a question of intent, and of consequences. If it is the intent of the Census (and it is) to count everyone in the United States, then this question that will without question create an “undercount” of persons, and should not be on the census. In our current climate regarding illegal immigration, with seemingly random and capricious ICE raids, dragging people from their long established homes for deportation, how likely are the “heads of households” where undocumented immigrants live to answer the citizenship question? And since not answering the question could serve as a “trigger” for further investigation, it is so much more likely that the head of household will simply fail to fill out the census document itself.
That’s illegal, by the way. Failing to fill out a Census form or falsifying the information can result in a $5000 fine and up to sixty days in jail. And while the Census Bureau is not an enforcement agency and rarely prosecutes folks who fail to file, they will actually send workers to a household that fails to fill out the form. Despite this, placing the citizenship question on the form is likely to result in non-compliance and will result in fewer forms being returned.
The Census Bureau promises that all information provided is confidential, and will not be personally identified to anyone, including other government agencies like ICE. But “trust” in government among minorities and the undocumented is pretty low. It doesn’t help that today it was revealed that the Census Bureau is proposing to get data from the Department of Homeland Security about individual citizenship status, including full identifying information; name, address, and even the alien registration number of those who aren’t US citizens.
The professional staff at the Census Bureau were well aware of the consequences of asking the citizenship question, and advised the political leadership against it. Yet the orders to include it literally came from the top, from Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Secretary went to some lengths to obscure it as his request, asking the Justice Department to “ask him” to include the question, but the origin clearly came from Ross and the White House political staff. This raises the question – what was their intent in wanting this controversial question added to the 2020 census?
The Republican Party has for a decade waged a legal campaign to restrict the impact of the changing demographics of America. From the “Redmap” gerrymandering plan that has successfully maintained Republican majorities in many state legislatures and Congressional districts despite changing voting patterns, to legislation that served to restrict voting such as Voter ID laws; Republicans have searched for legal ways to maintain political power regardless of shrinking party membership and votes.
What happens if the 2020 Census undercounts undocumented migrants? It isn’t like they are voting, despite the alt-right cries, the worst recent voter fraud seems to have been committed by Republicans in North Carolina. So what’s the difference if they aren’t counted?
The Census population is used to determine the “apportionment of representation.” Members of the House of Representatives are divided by ALL of the population, so if areas are undercounted, they will get fewer Representatives, and other areas will get more. Since the areas with greater numbers of undocumented also tend to be Democratic, that means fewer Democrats in Congress. In addition, votes in the Electoral College, the body that actually chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, are determined by the number of Members of the House (plus the number of Senators plus three.) If the population is undercounted, then those representatives and electoral votes will go to more Republican areas.
Ultimately this is a partisan question with partisan outcomes. This has been confirmed by two US District Court Judges, one of whom said that;
“… Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in bad faith, broke several laws, and violated the constitutional underpinning of representative democracy when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.” – US District Judge Richard Seeborg.
The case has been “fast tracked” to the US Supreme Court, where the Federalist Society majority will be forced into a difficult choice. Their philosophical foundation is to follow the “original intent” of the founding fathers, who in clear language wanted everyone counted (other than Indians and two-fifths of slaves.) But their political desire is to help and maintain the Republican Party, and particularly the current President. It will be interesting how they reach a conclusion, because in the end there is only a basic choice: the question is on, or it is off.
