How Census Undercount Became a Civil Rights Issue and Why It Is Increasingly Important

Abstract

This article traces the history of census undercount and its importance to civil rights. The Constitution mandates a census and calls for Congress to use the results to apportion seats in Congress and the Electoral College. A substantial undercount in the census will misallocate congressional and electoral college votes. More recently, census-derived statistics are used for the geographic allocation of federal and state funds. This linkage of the census count to the distribution of federal and state funds puts the undercount on the radar for states and municipalities. Closely tied to the undercount and becoming a more central issue to the Census Bureau is the difficulties in reaching hard-to-count populations. Is the Census Bureau up to the task? We end our story with a discussion of Detroit’s experience with the 2020 Census, including its unsuccessful challenge to its housing count.