The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Census 2010: Civil Rights Community Works to Ensure a Fair, Accurate Count

By Corrine Yu

In just a few months, the great national headcount will begin. The census is the nation’s largest peacetime mobilization of personnel and resources, employing more than a million temporary workers during peak operations. Mandated by the Constitution, the decennial census provides information that is the cornerstone of knowledge about the American people. It is the basis for virtually all demographic and socioeconomic information used by educators, policymakers, and community leaders.

Census data directly affect representation in Congress and Electoral College allocations, federal spending on many important programs, compliance with federal civil rights laws, and private sector decisions on investment and location of facilities. Every ten years, census population counts are used to reapportion the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states and then to draw legislative districts within each state. The number of electors each state receives for presidential elections is the number in its congressional delegation (number of representatives in the House and Senate).

In addition, census data directly affect decisions made on all matters of national and local importance, including education, employment, veterans' services, public health care, rural development, the environment, transportation, and housing. Many federal programs are statutorily required to use decennial data to develop, evaluate, and implement their programs. Federal, state, and county governments use census information to guide the annual distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars for critical services. The data are also used to monitor and enforce compliance with civil rights statutes, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and employment, housing, lending, and education anti-discrimination laws.

Counting every person residing in the United States is a difficult endeavor, and despite the Census Bureau’s best efforts, some households are missed by the count; some households are counted more than once; and still others respond with incorrect information. However, because the accuracy of the census directly affects our nation's ability to ensure equal representation and equal access to important governmental resources for all Americans, ensuring a fair and accurate census must be regarded as one of the most significant civil rights issues facing the country today.

Overview of the 2010 Census Plan The first U.S. census took place in 1790, when U.S. Marshals rode out on horseback to count the populations of the 13 new states of the United States. For the 2010 census, some $7 billion worth of research, planning, and preparation has already been conducted. As required by law, the Census Bureau submitted to Congress the topics and questions two years before the count. Other steps in the process include printing more than 200 million questionnaires, opening local offices, and recruiting and training census takers.

The 2010 census includes the most significant change to the census since 1930. In 2010, every household will receive a short form census consisting of ten questions, covering six topics. The six topics are:

• Tenure: Is the home owned or rented?
• Relationship: How are the people in the household related to each other?
• Sex
• Age
• Hispanic origin (considered an ethnicity, not a race)
• Race (respondents may choose one or more races).

The long form previously sent to one out of six households will be replaced by the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is still a part of the decennial census and collects essentially the same questions as the long form. But instead of once a decade, the ACS is sent to a rolling sample of addresses every month throughout the nation, producing annually-updated estimates of important socio-economic indicators about the nation’s population and housing.

While the Census Bureau has been planning for the 2010 census for an entire decade, significant operations started in the fall of 2008 when recruitment began for address canvassing. The address listers walked the streets in the spring and summer of 2009 to update the Census Bureau’s address file. In January 2010, enumeration begins in remote Alaskan villages, but most households will receive their census forms in the mail in March.

April 1, 2010 is Census Day. By late April through June, the Census Bureau will follow up with households that either did not return their form or did not fill out all information. In late summer and fall of 2010, the Census Bureau will conduct a post-enumeration survey to check for accuracy. In December, the Bureau will report state population totals to the president for apportionment purposes.

The Census Bureau’s plan for outreach includes an integrated communications plan, which consists of a partnership program, paid advertising, and a Census in the Schools program. People who need help filling out their census forms can visit Questionnaire Assistance Centers or call Telephone Questionnaire Assistance lines. People who think they were not counted can pick up a form at “Be Counted” sites in every community. Some households will receive a bilingual form in English and Spanish. The census form also will be available in Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian, while language guides in more than 50 additional languages can assist others whose English proficiency is limited.

Challenges to Achieving a Fair and Accurate Count
Under the best of circumstances, compiling a fair and accurate count is an enormous and complex undertaking with huge stakes for individuals and communities. It is important to note that racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately undercounted in previous censuses, and are more likely to live in areas designated by the Census Bureau as hard-to-count (HTC). The uneven accuracy of previous census counts – particularly for racial and ethnic minorities, people with low income, people with limited English proficiency, and others – raises serious civil rights concerns about equality of political representation and economic opportunity.

For the 2010 census, the task will be particular daunting. New challenges have emerged, including a larger, more diverse, and more mobile population; the displacement of thousands by natural (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita) and man-made (foreclosures) disasters; general public unease with the government; increased concerns about privacy and confidentiality in a post 9/11 environment; the potential chilling effect of anti-immigrant policies; and a severe economic recession. In addition, the Census Bureau has experienced a number of significant internal challenges, from funding shortfalls, to vacuums in leadership positions, to the failure of major information technology systems.

Most recently, during the debate about appropriations for the 2010 census, Sens. David Vitter, R. La., and Robert Bennett, R. Utah, demanded that Congress freeze funding unless the Census Bureau added a question to the census form asking respondents whether they are citizens and legal residents. The decennial census has always counted every person living in the United States on Census Day, regardless of immigration status, for purposes of apportionment. Civil rights and immigration rights advocates argued that such a last-minute change would derail the census and the subsequent apportionment and redistricting processes. As Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, noted, “Make no mistake: such a last minute change would stall the census and every public and private project that depends upon an accurate headcount of our nation's population, while singling out segments of our society for intimidation and exclusion.” Though the proposal was ultimately blocked through a procedural vote on the appropriations bill, civil rights advocates do not expect the Vitter amendment to be the only or last such political attack on the census.

Meeting the Challenges
Community-based organizations have played an extraordinary role in raising public awareness about the census and promoting participation among the hardest-tocount segments of the population. The Census Bureau, recognizing the pivotal role these organizations and their respected leaders have played in conveying to the public the importance and confidentiality of census response, has established the 2010 Census Partnership Program and is actively seeking cooperation from national, state, local, and neighborhood groups.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund, working with a collaborative of national civil rights groups with expertise in the census—the Asian American Justice Center, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the NAACP, and the National Congress of American Indians—has launched a national campaign to educate stakeholders, including the civil and human rights community at the national, local, and state levels, about the importance of a fair and accurate 2010 census, and to encourage census participation, especially among the hardest-to-count populations.

More information about the “It’s Time. Make Yourself Count. Census 2010” campaign can be found here: http://www.civilrights.org/census/

Corrine Yu is senior counsel and managing policy director for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. She manages the “It’s Time. Make Yourself Count. Census 2010” campaign.