What could be some implications from an inaccurate census count?
March 12, 2020 4:51 PM Subscribe
What could be some implications from an inaccurate census count? Similarly, are there any legal penalties for lying on the census?
Systematically undercount an ethnic group or language group (or even profession, etc), and its needs will also be systematically underfunded too.
The census is a tool to help people and bad information generally ends up heaping more privilege on the already privileged, because marginalized people get erased. This matters for lots of demographic categories, not limited to geographic area.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:00 PM on March 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
The census is a tool to help people and bad information generally ends up heaping more privilege on the already privileged, because marginalized people get erased. This matters for lots of demographic categories, not limited to geographic area.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:00 PM on March 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
Congressional districts are based on population, not number of voters. There’s a census brief available from the 2010 census explaining how changes in population of states in that census meant they lost or gained congressional seats.
Inaccurate census information will affect the apportionment of the seats. This means that some states may undeservedly lose or gain seats. Similarly, if for example urban areas are systematically undercounted while rural areas aren’t, then urban areas will have less representation in Congress.
posted by scorbet at 5:21 PM on March 12, 2020
Inaccurate census information will affect the apportionment of the seats. This means that some states may undeservedly lose or gain seats. Similarly, if for example urban areas are systematically undercounted while rural areas aren’t, then urban areas will have less representation in Congress.
posted by scorbet at 5:21 PM on March 12, 2020
The Census is mandated by the Constitution in order to apportion members of the House of Representatives (and by extension, State Legislatures and other local governmental bodies). I think the count would have to be way off to affect the House of Representatives, but might more easily affect local government.
posted by namret at 5:22 PM on March 12, 2020
posted by namret at 5:22 PM on March 12, 2020
For the second part of your question, look at 13 USC Ch. 7, section 221:
posted by saeculorum at 5:35 PM on March 12, 2020
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.tldr: refusing to answer is a $100 fine and false answers are a $500 fine. In practice though, the US Census is unlikely to do anything about it.
(b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a) of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is false, shall be fined not more than $500.
posted by saeculorum at 5:35 PM on March 12, 2020
Each uncounted person costs their district an average of $2,000 each year (i.e. $20K over the ten years to the next census) in money from the federal government.
BE COUNTED!
posted by anadem at 5:38 PM on March 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
BE COUNTED!
posted by anadem at 5:38 PM on March 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
Allocation for expanding/ upgrading utilities will be partly based on census. Emergency planning likewise.
posted by unearthed at 6:41 PM on March 12, 2020
posted by unearthed at 6:41 PM on March 12, 2020
Hello! I work at a population center within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here are some of the things the Census does:
We use the Census counts to distribute political power and allocate funding for everything from highway spending to programs like Medicare and Head Start.
The Census is the backbone of virtually every data product researchers, governments, and businesses use to understand who we are, how we’ve changed, and what this might mean for the future. This once-a-decade count is the only source of basic demographic data on all individuals living in the United States.
We receive a LOT of questions about the Census and recently compiled them into a blog post.
posted by melodykramer at 11:26 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
We use the Census counts to distribute political power and allocate funding for everything from highway spending to programs like Medicare and Head Start.
The Census is the backbone of virtually every data product researchers, governments, and businesses use to understand who we are, how we’ve changed, and what this might mean for the future. This once-a-decade count is the only source of basic demographic data on all individuals living in the United States.
We receive a LOT of questions about the Census and recently compiled them into a blog post.
posted by melodykramer at 11:26 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by BungaDunga at 4:55 PM on March 12, 2020 [5 favorites]