Cities across the United States are raising challenges to the 2020 census due to concerns over an undercount of their population. The official numbers dictate how government funding is apportioned for numerous programs ranging from healthcare to transportation infrastructure. These challenges may not impact the number of congressional seats each state receives, but they could affect how the federal government distributes the $1.5tn from their budget each year.
The U.S. Census Bureau has created a special program to handle database discrepancies and expects that local, state, and tribal governments will submit their challenges by June’s end. The Census Bureau has already received over 100 submissions for both programs. Some of the challenges that these cities face include discrepancies in housing units and collegiate quarters for students, where many residents have been miscounted due to the pandemic.
Cities from coast to coast have filed challenges, including Austin, Boston, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, and Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the agency may have missed up to 4% of non-citizens during the 2020 count. The bureau believes that this group was particularly challenging to locate compared to other populations. The U.S. government relies on the population numbers counted to redistribute congressional seats, Electoral College votes, and $1.5tn of federal money each year to local communities for public services.
The bureau’s estimated tally of the U.S. population on Census Day 2020 was around 2.3% higher than the actual count result of 331.4 million, mainly due to noncitizen residents’ lack of inclusion in the agency’s data, particularly those people with unknown legal status. The bureau had previously warned about such a scenario in light of the Trump administration’s failed push to add a question to the 2020 census regarding a person’s U.S. citizenship status.
In Pakistan, the nation’s first-ever digital population and housing count has encountered significant setbacks. Karachi’s citizens, its largest city, argue that census teams failed to count people during the survey, claiming that the count was inaccurate. The survey covers both rural and urban areas, and data is being compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, which has extended the original deadline for completing the project until April 15th. Despite utilizing tablet computers to perform the survey, an official warned that some anomalies in the data would still emerge.
Meanwhile, the Patna High Court has rejected a plea from the Bihar government seeking a hearing on July 3rd in the writ pleading challenging caste enumeration and economic survey in the state. The Chief Justice KV Chandran-led division bench declined the application and directed the hearing to start on July 3rd without any adjournments allowed. On May 4th, the court temporarily halted caste enumeration and the economic survey in Bihar, prohibiting the state government from sharing or using collected data from the census period. The state executive has been informed by the court that it has no legal jurisdiction to conduct caste enumeration, nor has any legislation passed by the legislature permitted it.
Although some changes have been approved for universities, prisons, and assisted living facilities, other challenges saw these target cities fall short of their desired population goals. Changes in population estimates are calculated every year between censuses for state, tribal, and local governments that file by the end of June. These government challenges may not affect how many congressional seats a state gets, or the more detailed numbers used to redraw political boundaries. However, it could affect the population counts utilized in annual estimates for government program funding, such as transportation, healthcare, and other essential public services.
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