The New York Times - USA (2020-08-06)

A22 THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020

Y

The Census Bureau hasn’t offered a clear explanation for

its decision this week to bring an early end to the decenni-

al enumeration of the nation’s population, but the reason is

clear enough: The Trump administration doesn’t want a

complete count, as the law requires.

This is not a secret plot. Mr. Trump has been trying to

whitewash the census since the moment he took office.

First his administration tried to add a question about citi-

zenship in an effort to depress the response rate of nonciti-

zens. As one longtime Republican strategist concluded in

a 2015 analysis, excluding noncitizens from the census

would “be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic

whites.” After the Supreme Court poured cold water on

that plan last year, Mr. Trump directed the government

last month not to

count undocumented

immigrants for the

purposes of reappor-

tioning seats in the

House of Representa-

tives. (That’s almost

certainly unconstitu-

tional.)

The latest gambit

is broader: Ending

the crucial in-person

canvass one month

early will ensure a

significant under-

count of minorities, as

well as rural popula-

tions and other

groups.

Even in the best

of times, counting

roughly 330 million

people is a monumen-

tal task. In the midst

of a pandemic, it be-

comes incalculably

harder. The bureau

anticipated this back

in April, during the

first wave of the coro-

navirus, when it re-

quested from Con-

gress a four-month

extension to deliver

its data. Current fed-

eral law requires the

data to be turned in

by Dec. 31; the exten-

sion would have run

through April 2021. As

part of its request, the

bureau said it would

continue knocking on

doors, trying to reach

every person in the

country, through the

end of October.

The House of Representatives approved that request

in May; the Senate has not acted on it. Instead of pressing

harder, the census director, Steven Dillingham, said Mon-

day that door-to-door data collection would end Septem-

ber 30, a month earlier than previously planned, to meet

the Dec. 31 deadline.

“We are committed to a complete and accurate 2020

census,” Mr. Dillingham said.

It’s hard to see how. Just last month, the census’s as-

sociate director, Albert Fontenot Jr., said, “we are past the

window of being able to get those counts” by the end of the

year.

Why does an accurate and complete census matter?

Because it is the anchor of representative democracy. The

Constitution’s framers made a national head count the

first job of the federal government for a reason. Based on

this count, we make some of our most consequential deci-

sions as a society, from the states’ representation in Con-

gress to the distribution of more than $1.5 trillion in annual

funding for a wide range of public programs. Businesses

rely on the data to plan investments. School districts rely

on it to decide how many teachers they need. Researchers

use it to analyze the patterns of American life.

The financial ramifications of any mistakes in the cen-

sus count for state and local governments are particularly

significant. Research by Andrew Reamer, a professor at

George Washington University, provides a partial picture

of the impact of undercounting. For each person missed

by the 2010 census, he calculates that in the 2015 fiscal

year, that person’s state lost about $1,091 in federal fund-

ing for Medicaid and child welfare programs. Those pro-

grams comprise just a quarter of federal funding tied to

the census.

That’s why it is essential for the census to be as pre-

cise and as comprehensive as possible. “Like the military,

the census, the nation’s largest peacetime mobilization,

cannot fail,” a former Census Bureau director wrote in The

New York Times this year. “The stakes are too high, its

numbers too consequential.”

To date, just under 63 percent of American house-

holds have responded to the census. In normal years, cen-

sus workers would knock on as many doors as possible

from the other 37 percent of homes, many in poorer and

rural areas of the country. The arrival of the pandemic,

only weeks before the start of the count on April 1, dis-

rupted those plans. Census officials were hoping that the

virus would fade by now, allowing for more in-person data

collection. But the outbreak hasn’t abated, and could get

even worse this fall when the traditional flu season begins.

Add to that the many Americans who have been displaced

by the virus, either temporarily or permanently, and you

have the ingredients for a major distortion in the count.

The president ought to do everything in his power to

ameliorate that distortion. Instead, Mr. Trump and his Re-

publican allies have repeatedly tried to exacerbate it. By

their calculations, the fewer people of color and nonciti-

zens who are counted, the better.

It’s true that people of color, who are more likely to be

poor or marginalized than white people, are less likely to

be counted in the census, perhaps more so this year than

in decades. But the

irony is that a rush to

finish the counting

process could hurt

Mr. Trump’s own vot-

ers, too. That’s be-

cause the poorest

states, which depend

the most on federal

funding, also tend to

have lower census re-

sponse rates. In West

Virginia, federal fund-

ing from programs

tied to the census ac-

counted for 17 percent

of economic activity

in 2017, according to

Mr. Reamer’s calcula-

tions. The state has

one of the lowest cen-

sus response rates.

And because so

much federal funding

is allocated to states

based at least in part

on census population

estimates, an inaccu-

rate census doesn’t

just harm people in

undercounted com-

munities. It harms ev-

eryone who lives in

the same state.

Whatever hap-

pens in the election,

the effects of the cen-

sus will be with the

country for at least

another decade — a

legacy that will long

outlive this adminis-

tration.

Congress can in-

tervene. The deadline

for delivery of the fi-

nal count needs to be

extended to April 30, 2021, as the Census Bureau initially

requested. That would force states to delay the process of

drawing new legislative maps, and in some cases could

make it impossible to meet deadlines written into state

law. But the necessary adjustments are a small price to

pay for 10 years of a fairer and more accurate democracy.

Four former census directors, from Democratic and

Republican administrations, called in a statement this

week for Congress to commission outside experts to es-

tablish criteria for evaluating the accuracy of the final

count. That’s a good idea, too.

State and local governments also have an important

role to play, by using all available means to urge people to

complete their census forms.

If you haven’t filled out your own census form yet,

what are you waiting for?

An Incomplete Census Hurts Everyone

EDITORIAL

NICHOLAS KONRAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES

TO THE EDITOR:

Re “Trump’s Attacks on Mail Service Sow

Voting Fears” (front page, Aug. 1):

President Trump’s systematic assault on

the U.S. Postal Service and unfounded

warnings that mail-in ballots will lead to

widespread fraud are the latest example of

his desperate, illegal efforts to undercut the

Constitution and the rule of law.

Rather than sitting idly by while Mr.

Trump works to suppress the vote in No-

vember through delays, reduced service

and other practices intended to slow mail

delivery and spur fear and distrust, the

private sector should step in and offer free

ballot delivery for any voter wishing to vote

by mail.

U.P.S., FedEx and other private carriers

have reliable networks that Americans

trust. They have drop-off locations, and

they provide pickups. By offering their

services, they will earn important public

kudos while helping to ensure fair elections

— as critical for any business to thrive as it

is for the survival of our democracy.

RONA COHEN, MONTCLAIR, N.J.

TO THE EDITOR:

As a California transplant to Oregon, for the

last five years I have happily participated

in the latter’s 100 percent mail-in voting

system. It works like a charm. There is

automatic voter registration at the state’s

motor vehicles department; results are

reported expeditiously, without a whiff of

irregularities. Of course, the system de-

pends on a well-functioning Postal Service,

a vital cog that Congress really needs to do

more about protecting.

WAYNE A. CORNELIUS, PORTLAND, ORE.

TO THE EDITOR:

President Trump’s recent actions regarding

the U.S. Postal Service (limiting overtime,

cutting back hours of operation and so on)

are the beginning of the corruption of the

election that he is ominously forecasting.

His warning echoes his past explicit and

implicit solicitation of foreign help to under-

mine his political rivals (“Russia, if you’re

listening,” etc.). Hobbling the Postal Service

and warning about an opportunity of a

particular pathway to intervene in our

November elections signal and invite for-

eign governments to take advantage of that

opportunity.

SUSAN RELIN KORN, NEWTON, MASS.

TO THE EDITOR:

President Trump’s attack on the dangers of

mail-in voting and the Post Service’s com-

plicity in raising the specter of reduced

service are fake news. The Postal Service

delivers billions of pieces of first-class mail

at Christmastime. U.S. citizens cast 140

million ballots in the 2016 presidential elec-

tion. The capacity is clearly there.

JAMES BILTEKOFF, BUFFALO, N.Y.

TO THE EDITOR:

Congress needs to speak up to deflect ir-

rational tweets about fraud and unreliable

absentee voting. It should declare a national

holiday for voting to encourage turnout to

the fullest extent possible, and it should

bolster support for the Postal System to

enhance voting by mail.

MARY ELIZABETH ETHERIDGE, ATLANTA

TO THE EDITOR:

Given the current undermining of the Postal

Service, here’s a suggestion: Why don’t we

keep the polls open nationwide for a full

week? Then we can avoid crowds and lines

at the polls.

ELAINE EDELMAN, EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.

TO THE EDITOR:

Why not mail absentee ballots to all regis-

tered voters at the beginning of September?

That way, there would be sufficient time for

voters to reply and help ensure that their

votes are counted.

BARBARA GROSSMAN, HILLSDALE, N.J.

TO THE EDITOR:

One effective way to improve mail-in ballot-

ing is readily available: public service an-

nouncements, or P.S.A.s, which are dissemi-

nated by TV, radio and the internet, without

charge, to raise awareness of important

issues of public interest. Celebrities should

be encouraged to participate.

State and local officials should direct that

these P.S.A.s commence well ahead of the

Nov. 3 election, spelling out their state’s

mail-in ballot procedures — simple, clear

and nonpartisan — and the various dead-

lines. The announcements should also re-

inforce the Postal Service’s timing recom-

mendations.

Citizens must be provided the information

they need to exercise their right to vote,

whether at the ballot box or at the mailbox,

and be assured that it will count.

KARL F. INDERFURTH, MCLEAN, VA.

TO THE EDITOR:

According to the Postal Service, 75.7 billion

pieces of marketing mail were delivered in

2019. This works out to many millions of
      pieces of delivered mail each day. If the
      Postal Service is worried about handling the
      mass of anticipated mail-in ballots for the
      presidential election, it should declare a
      moratorium on any delivery of marketing
      mail for two weeks before the election.
      STEVEN SCHREIBER, VOORHEESVILLE, N.Y.

TO THE EDITOR:

Instead of fanning the flames of fear and

anxiety concerning mail-in ballots, wouldn’t

President Trump be wise to report to Ameri-

can taxpayers the steps he is taking to en-

sure that all ballots cast by mail amid a

global pandemic will be counted? Increased

funding for temporary staff within the U.S.

Postal Service to accommodate the surge of

mail would reflect a leader who knows how

to fix problems in a prudent manner.

LESLIE PORTER, ROCKVILLE, MD.

An Election Battleground: Voting by Mail

LETTERS