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

REFERENCES

1. ↵
   1. Anderson, Margo

   . 2015. The American Census. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2015.
2. ↵
   1. Brennan Center for Justice

   . 2023. “Redistricting Litigation Roundup.” December 21. Last modified July 7, 2023. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/redistricting-litigation-roundup-0.
3. ↵
   1. Brookings Institution

   . 2024. “Vital Statistics on Congress: Chapter 1—The Demographics of Members of Congress.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/vital-statistics-on-congress.
4. ↵
   1. Brown, Warren

   , 1980. “High Court Clears Way for ’80 Census Report.” Washington Post, December 31.
5. ↵
   1. Bryant, Barbara Everitt, and
   2. William Dunn

   . 1995. Moving Power and Money: The Politics of Census Taking. Ithaca, N.Y.: New Strategist Publications.
6. ↵
   1. Budd, Ted

   . 2024. “Budd, Hagerty, Colleagues Introduce Bill Requiring Census to Include Citizenship Question.” Press release, January 25. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.budd.senate.gov/2024/01/25/budd-hagerty-colleagues-introduce-bill-requiring-census-to-include-citizenship-question.
7. ↵
   1. Coale, Ansley J., and
   2. Mel Zelnick

   . 1963. New Estimates of Fertility and Population in the United States: A Study of Annual White Births from 1855 to 1960 and of Completeness of Enumeration in the Censuses from 1880 to 1960. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
8. ↵
   1. Cooney, Patrick,
   2. Ren Farley,
   3. Samiul Jubaed,
   4. Kurt Metzger,
   5. Jeffrey Morenoff,
   6. Lisa Neidert, and
   7. Ramona Rodriguez Washington

   . 2021. “Analysis of the Census 2020 Count in Detroit.” Poverty Solutions, December. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Ford School. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://sites.fordschool.umich.edu/poverty2021/files/2021/12/PovertySolutions-Census-Undercount-in-Detroit-PolicyBrief-December2021.pdf.
9. ↵
   1. De Benedictis-Kessner, Justin

   . 2024. “Non-White People Are Drastically Underrepresented in Local Governments.” The Conversation, January 29. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://theconversation.com/nonwhite-people-are-drastically-underrepresented-in-local-government-212318.
10. ↵
    1. Greenhouse, Linda

    . 1996. “High Court Rules Results Are Valid in Census 1990.” New York Times, March 21.
11. ↵
    1. Gringlas, Sam

    . 2023. “Georgia Redistricting Tests If the Voting Rights Act Protects ‘Coalition Districts’.” Morning Edition, December 23. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2023/12/20/1220384013/georgia-redistricting-voting-rights-act-coalition-districts.
12. ↵
    1. Hill, Courtney,
    2. Krista Helm,
    3. Jinhee Hong, and
    4. Nam Phan

    . 2022. “Census Coverage Estimates for People in the United States by State and Census Operations.” Washington: U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/coverage-measurement/pes/census-coverage-estimates-for-people-in-the-united-states-by-state-and-census-operations.pdf.
13. 1. Jensen, Eric, and
    2. Timothy Kennell

    . 2022. “Detailed Coverage Estimates for the 2020 Census Releases Today.” Washington: U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/03/who-was-undercounted-overcounted-in-2020-census.html.
14. ↵
    1. Khan, Nisa

    . 2020. “Michigan at 8th Place for 2020 Census Self-Response, but Detroit Last for Large Cities.” Detroit Free Press, October 19. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/19/michigan-detroit-2020-censusresponse/3710170001.
15. ↵
    1. Leone, Laryissa, and
    2. Mike Schneider

    . 2024. “Des Moines Suburbs to Go Through Census Process Again—Why?” We Are Iowa, January 3. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/community/iowa-illinois-midwest-states-2024-census-recount-altoona-bondurant-grimes-johnston-norwalk-pleasant-hill-waukee/524-c0bf6a20-40c8-4abf-9154-04aa04dfdd97.
16. ↵
    1. Lo Wang, Hansi

    . 2020. “With No Final Say, Trump Wants to Change Who Counts for Dividing Up Congress’ Seats.” Morning Edition, July 21. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/21/892340508/with-no-final-say-trump-wants-to-change-who-counts-for-dividing-up-congress-seat.
17. ↵
    1. Mackay, Hannah, and
    2. Sarah Rahal

    . 2022. “Detroit, Michigan Leaders Push to Challenge Census Count.” Detroit News, July 22. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2022/07/25/mayor-duggan-michigan-leaders-discuss-census-undercount-detroit/10119877002.
18. ↵
    1. Morris, Kevin, and
    2. Coryn Grange

    . 2024. “Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022.” New York: Brennan Center for Justice.
19. ↵
    1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)

    . 2022. Understanding the Quality of the 2020 Census: Interim Report. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26529.
20. ↵
    1. National Digital Inclusion Alliance

    . 2019. “Worst Connected Cities 2019.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.digitalinclusion.org/worst-connected-cities-2019.
21. ↵
    1. National Municipal League

    . 1962. Compendium on Legislative Apportionment. New York: National Municipal League.
22. ↵
    1. Norwood, Janet

    . 2016. “Politics and Federal Statistics.” Statistics and Public Policy 3(1): 1–8.

    OpenUrl
23. ↵
    1. Office of the State Treasurer, State of Maine

    . 2024. “Revenue Sharing.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.maine.gov/treasurer/revenue-sharing.
24. 1. O’Hare, William

    . 2019a. Differential Undercounts in the U.S. Census. Cham: Springer Nature.
25. ↵
    1. O’Hare, William

    . 2019b. “ Understanding Who Was Missed in the 2010 Census.” Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau. https://www.prb.org/resources/understanding-who-was-missed-in-the-2010-census.
26. ↵
    1. Population Studies Center

    . 2024. “Apportionment Calculator.” Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://psc.isr.umich.edu/research/apportionment-calculator-for-us-census.
27. ↵
    1. Prewitt, Kenneth

    . 2005. “Politics and Science in Census Taking.” In The American People: Census 2000, edited by Reynolds Farley and John Hagga. New York and Washington, D.C.: Russell Sage Foundation and Population Reference Bureau.
28. ↵
    1. Prewitt, Kenneth

    . 2017. “The 1920 Census Broke Constitutional Norms—Let’s Not Repeat That in 2020.” Items: Insights from Social Science, July 13. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://items.ssrc.org/parameters/the-1920-census-broke-constitutional-norms-lets-not-repeat-that-in-2020.
29. ↵
    1. Price, Daniel O

    . 1947. “A Check on Under Enumeration in the 1940 Census.” American Sociological Review 12(1): 44–49.

    OpenUrl
30. ↵
    1. Reamer, Andrew

    . 2019. “Census-Guided Federal Spending: A Comprehensive Accounting.” Paper presented to National League of Cities. Washington, D.C. (November 18, 2019). Accessed April 2, 2024. https://gwipp.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs6111/files/downloads/Reamer%20NLC%20Census%2011-18-19.pdf.
31. ↵
    1. Reamer, Andrew

    . 2020. “Counting for Dollars 2020: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds.” April 29. Washington, D.C.: GW Institute of Public Policy. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://gwipp.gwu.edu/counting-dollars-2020-role-decennial-census-geographic-distribution-federal-funds.
32. ↵
    1. Ross, Ceci Villa

    . 2023. “Uses of Decennial Programs Data in Federal Funds Distribution.” Washington: U.S. Census Bureau.
33. 1. Steven Ruggles,
    2. Sarah Flood,
    3. Ronald Goeken,
    4. Megan Schouweiler, and
    5. Matthew Sobek

    . 2022. "IPUMS USA: Version 12.0 [dataset]." Minneapolis, Minn.: IPUMS. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V12.0.
34. ↵
    1. Ruggles, Steven, and
    2. Diane Magnuson

    . 2020. “Census Technology, Politics, and Institutional Change, 1790–2020.” Journal of American History 107(1): 19–51.

    OpenUrlPubMed
35. ↵
    1. Smith, J. Douglas

    . 2014. On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States. New York: Hill and Wang.
36. ↵
    1. State of Michigan, Department of Treasury

    . 2024. “Revenue Sharing Programs.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.michigan.gov/treasury/local/share.
37. ↵
    1. Sullivan, Teresa A., and
    2. Daniel L. Cork

    , eds. 2023. Assessing the 2020 Census. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
38. ↵
    1. Tennessee State Data Center

    . 2024. “2020 Census Challenges, Reviews Net Population Gains for Tennessee Municipalities.” January 10. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://tnsdc.utk.edu/2024/01/10/2020-census-challenges-reviews-net-population-gains-for-tennessee-municipalities.
39. ↵
    1. U.S. Census Bureau

    . 2022. “Post-Enumeration Survey and Demographic Analysis Help Evaluate 2020 Census Results.” Press release, March 10. Washington: U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/2020-census-estimates-of-undercount-and-overcount.html.
40. ↵
    1. U.S. Census Bureau

    . 2024. “1790.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/1790overview.pdf.
41. ↵
    1. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

    . 1965. Voting in Mississippi. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
42. ↵
    1. U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

    . 2019. “Actions Needed to Improve Census Bureau’s Process for Working with Governments to Build Address List.” GAO-20-17. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
43. ↵
    1. U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

    . 2023. “2020 Census: A More Complete Lessons Learned Process for Cost and Schedule Would Help Next Decennial.” GAO-23-105819. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105819.
44. ↵
    1. U.S. News and World Report

    . 1967. “Rewrite the Constitution? An Interview with Everett Dirksen.” 62(23)(June 5): 63–69. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://archive.org/details/sim_u-s-news-weekly-special-issues_1967-06-05_62_23/page/2/mode/2up.