Tag: 2020 census

New York, California, Other Blue States Succeed in Altering 2020 Census Numbers: Report

Just the News
Times Square, New York City

The Democrat-run states such as New York and Illinois are increasing 2020 census numbers after successfully asking for a review of the once-a-decade population survey that helps determine federal funding distribution as the states struggle with population losses.  

The distribution of the population of California is also being changed following a review, the Associated Press reported Thursday. That report says that “the once-a-decade census produces population figures that help determine political power and the annual distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal funding. The Census Bureau has two programs giving governments opportunities to have their population totals reviewed and adjusted if need be. Nearly 200 requests for reviews were filed by tribal, local and state governments for the 2020 census.”

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Commentary: Republicans Can Thank the Federal Government’s Bungled 2020 Census for Their Razor-Thin House Majority

Admin

Republicans will soon take control of the House of Representatives, but with a margin so narrow it may prove difficult to achieve their legislative and oversight objectives. That margin might have been larger, were it not for egregious errors made by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census.

Come January, House membership will consist of 213 Democrats and 222 Republicans. A party must hold 218 of those seats to control the House. Thus, Republicans will have only a four-seat majority. That extremely narrow majority means that GOP leadership can lose any vote on any issue if only four Republicans defect and the Democrats stay united in opposition.

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Commentary: Including Noncitizens in Census Devalues Votes of Citizens, Unjustly Alters House Representation

Admin

You may have missed it, but a recent Census Bureau report revealed that the bureau made significant errors in the most recent census, overcounting the population of eight states and undercounting the population of six states.

As a result, the citizens in undercounted states, such as Florida, did not receive all of the congressional representation to which they are entitled, while citizens in states such as Minnesota and Rhode Island that were overcounted are overrepresented in Congress.

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In Ongoing Lawsuit Miyares’ Office Argues It’s Too Late to Hold 2023 House Elections

Eric Burk

The Office of Attorney General (OAG) Jason Miyares is arguing in court that it is too late to grant 2023 House elections — a response to Thomas v. Beals, a lawsuit alleging that the 2022 elections, held on pre-redistricting lines, disenfranchised voters in areas with significant population growth. The OAG argues that plaintiff Jeff Thomas delayed in filing the lawsuit — after Thomas alleged that both Miyares and former Attorney General Mark Herring themselves tried to block the elections through delay.

“This is a case about delay,” the OAG states in a July 1 memorandum supporting a motion to dismiss. “Almost a year after the first lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 2021 House of Delegates election, seven months after that election took place, and just over four months before the 2022 general election, Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging the 2021 election.”

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Another Lawsuit to Force 2022 House Elections Filed After Court Dismisses Goldman Case

Eric Burk

Virginia politics author Jeff Thomas has filed a lawsuit against Department of Elections officials to try to force new House of Delegates elections in 2022. He argues that elections held last year on old lines leave him and other voters under-represented.

“Defendants have deliberately played games with the Court and the people’s rights for political reasons,” Thomas’ states in his lawsuit against Elections Commissioner Susan Beals and State Board of Elections Chairman Robert Brink.

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Court Rules Goldman Doesn’t Have Standing in Lawsuit to Force 2022 House Elections

Eric Burk

A three-judge U.S. District Court panel has dismissed with prejudice Paul Goldman’s lawsuit to force new House of Delegates elections in 2022. The Office of the Attorney General had argued that Goldman does not have standing, and the court agreed.

2020 U.S. Census data was delayed, delaying redistricting and forcing 2021 House elections to be held on old lines. Before the election in September 2021, Goldman sued, arguing that population shifts meant that some people would be under-represented, and argued for holding House elections again in 2022. Goldman didn’t gain much outside support and faced opposition from both former Attorney General Mark Herring and current Attorney General Jason Miyares.

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Connecticut Supreme Court Orders Congressional Maps Drawn by Special Master Be Adopted

The Center Square
Connecticut Supreme Court Building

The state’s highest court ruled that new Congressional maps drawn by a court-appointed special master be adopted.

The Connecticut Supreme Court handed down the decision Thursday after members of the Reapportionment Committee failed to reach an agreement on new maps in December 2021. The maps were re-drawn using information from the 2020 Census.

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Paul Goldman Files Motion for Injunction to Block Certification of Virginia House Races for Two-Year Terms

Eric Burk

Democratic operative Paul Goldman is asking a federal court to issue a temporary injunction blocking the State Board of Elections from issuing Certificates of Election in the House of Delegates certifying that the winners have the right to a two-year term. Goldman’s motion is part of his ongoing lawsuit arguing that the recent elections were unconstitutional, since they were held on old district lines due to redistricting delays. Goldman filed his suit before the election. He said he didn’t receive support from Democrats, and that Attorney General Mark Herring slow-walked the process. Herring’s office is defending state elections officials in the suit.

“They have specifically avoided dealing with this. Herring could have issued an opinion during the election. They could have had the Supreme Court do a ruling. They didn’t do it. Why? Because the Democrats were trying to get a two-year term,” Goldman told The Virginia Star. “Now this same argument can be used by the Republicans.”

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Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves Seeking Congressional Nomination to Challenge Rep. Abigail Spanberger

Eric Burk

State Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) is running for the GOP nomination for Virginia’s seventh congressional district. The region is considered a swing district and Republicans nationally expect to do well in the 2022 midterm congressional elections. The nominee will likely challenge incumbent Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), who has warned her party about the risks to moderates caused by progressive messaging and policy.

“Under President Trump our economy was humming, people were working, and government did not dominate or intrude in our lives and livelihood. But under Joe Biden and Abigail Spanberger, an intrusive, progressive government is failing us, badly. Spanberger has failed to make the Seventh District what it should be – the best place to work, live, and raise a family,” Reeves said in a Friday press release.

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Ohio Supreme Court Rules the State’s Redistricting Commission Members Can Be Deposed

The Center Square

Republican members of Ohio’s redistricting commission will have to answer questions as part of three lawsuits challenging new state legislative district maps, the Ohio Supreme Court said.

Groups such as the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed lawsuits, claiming the legislative maps are unconstitutional and gerrymandered. The Ohio Supreme Court has jurisdiction over lawsuits that challenge redistricting.

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This Fall and Winter, Redistricting Will Occupy Minds of Tennessee Politicians and Activists on the State and Local Levels

Bradley Vasoli
Tennessee State Capitol at night in winter

After the finalization of the U.S. Census every ten years, state and local governments set about redrawing their lawmakers’ and school directors’ district lines.

Throughout this fall and winter, legislators across the state will toil over this process sure to directly impact many of their futures. Although political considerations inevitably loom large in redistricting, the proceedings are theoretically intended to make districts as compact and contiguous as possible—i.e. to ensure that they don’t look like irregular puzzle pieces.

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Group of Southwestern Virginians Sues Redistricting Commission over Prison Population Counting

Eric Burk

Based on population shifts reflected in 2020 Census Data, southwestern Virginia is likely to lose a House of Delegates district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. On top of that, HB 1255, a 2020 bill passed by the General Assembly now requires incarcerated people to be counted at the address where they were living prior to their incarceration. That’s a problem for some districts with a significant number of prisons, including Senate District 38, where Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Tazewell) was recently elected. Hackworth is part of a group of Southwestern Virginians suing the Virginia Redistricting Commission, the State Board of Elections, and the Virginia Department of Elections to block the change in where incarcerated people are counted.

“Virginia prisons are typically located in rural districts with greater Republican voting strength, particularly in the Southside and Southwest regions of the Commonwealth in which Petitioners are voting permanent residents (and, in Petitioner Hackworth’s case, an elected state senator,)” court documents state, noting that incarcerated people do use local infrastructure.

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Nashville Area’s Population Approaches Two Million People

The Center Square

The Nashville metropolitan area was the 20th-fastest growing statistical area in the country since 2010, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

With a growth rate of 20.9% from 2010 to 2020, the Nashville area now is the 36th-largest metropolitan area in the country with nearly 2 million residents. The census numbers showed the metro Nashville population increased by 343,319 people to 1,989,519.

Tennessee’s population grew by 8.9% between 2010 and 2020; lower than the 11.5% and 16.7% increases during the previous two census counts. Four of the past six census counts have shown double-digit increases in Tennessee’s population growth.

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Virginia Redistricting Commissioners Debate Timing, Procedure, in First Meeting Since Census Data Published

Eric Burk

The U.S. Census Bureau released 2020 census data on Friday, but on Monday, the Virginia Redistricting Commission voted 14-1 with one abstention to consider August 26 the date of receipt of census bureau data. That’s due to Census Bureau delays that led to the data being released in an older format that will take vendors two weeks to process.

“This situation is very different from, I think, probably any other redistricting effort that has been done since long before World War II,” Senator George Barker (D-Fairfax) said, noting that law requires delivery of census data within a year of the census date.

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Minorities Fleeing High-Tax, Democrat-Run States for High-Opportunity, Republican-Run Country

Admin

Data from the 2020 census confirms a population shift that reflects “the decade’s broad population shifts: slow growth in the Northeast and Midwest, and gains in the South and some Western states.”

The last decade’s interstate migration shift also indicated that states with higher taxes and less opportunities for job growth lost residents to lower tax states with more job opportunities.

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Supreme Court Halts Census in Latest Twist of 2020 Count

The Associated Press

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can end census field operations early, batting aside a lawsuit that warned the truncated schedule will lead to minorities being undercounted in the crucial once-a-decade head count.

Still, the decision was not a total loss for the plaintiffs, who managed to get two extra weeks of counting people as the case challenging the U.S. Census Bureau’s decision to end the census in September made its way through the courts.

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Richmond Census Response Rate Lower than State and National Average as Count Deadline Looms

Jacob Taylor

The city of Richmond’s 2020 census response rate is 59.3 percent, lower than the Virginia and national average, which could result in lost federal funding at state and local levels. 

The deadline for census counting is September 30th, moved up a month by President Trump, and Richmond is falling behind not just nationally, but also compared to the surrounding central-Virginia counties. 

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Rep. Bruce Griffey Questions Lee Administration About Not Sharing Data with the U.S. Census Bureau That Would Help Estimate Illegals in Tennessee

Laura Baigert

State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) sent a letter to Governor Bill Lee on Friday questioning why Tennessee was not sharing data with the U.S. Census Bureau that would help estimate the number of illegal aliens living in Tennessee.

The issue arises out of President Trump’s memorandum this week to the Secretary of Commerce that excludes illegal aliens from the apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives that follows the decennial census.

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Citizenship Question Has Been Included on Canada’s Census Since 1901

Anthony Gockowski

  The debate over whether or not to include a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census has become the latest division in American politics, but a similar question has been included on Canada’s census for more than a century. On Saturday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that America’s neighbor to the north has included a citizenship question on its census since 1901. CBC notes that Canada’s long-form census asks: “Of what country is this person a citizen?” Respondents can select three possible answers, including: “Canada, by birth,” “Canada, by naturalization,” or “Other country – specify.” “The citizenship question has a long history on the Canadian census, being introduced for the first time on the 1901 census,” Emily Theelen, a spokeswoman for Statistics Canada, told CBC. “This information is used to estimate the number of potential voters and to plan citizenship classes and programs,” Theelen added. “It also provides information about the population with multiple citizenships and the number of immigrants in Canada who hold Canadian citizenship.” Canada conducts its census every five years, while the U.S. census occurs every 10 years. Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said there’s no evidence that census information has been abused for immigration-enforcement purposes…

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The Government Is Still Pursuing a Citizenship Question, But Path Forward Unclear

Admin

by Kevin Daley   The Trump administration is still looking for ways to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census form, government lawyers told a federal judge in Maryland Friday. The update comes as President Donald Trump announced that he is contemplating an executive order that would require a citizenship field to appear on census forms. “The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Commerce have been asked to reevaluate all available options following the Supreme Court’s decision and whether the Supreme Court’s decision would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census,” assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt wrote in a Friday filing. “In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the government will immediately notify this court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief,” the filing adds. The filing did not include details as to when the administration will make a definitive decision about its next steps, or what specific options the Justice Department is considering. Apart from Friday’s hearing, Trump said the administration is…

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Trump Must Go to the Mat Over Liberal Judge’s Ruling On Census Question

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by Mike Gonzalez and Hans von Spakovsky   A Manhattan district court judge earlier this week blocked the Trump administration from adding a question on citizenship to the 2020 census, and in doing so has sought to weaken executive power while strengthening the administrative state. The Trump administration has one choice here: Overturn this judicial overreach through appeal. The decision was biased and based on selective evidence. It needs to be overturned and corrected at once. As Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York himself observed in his ruling, “Time is of the essence because the Census Bureau needs to finalize the 2020 questionnaire by June of this year.” [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] The administration must therefore seek a stay at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and if that fails go straight to the Supreme Court for an expedited review. Shoddy Reasoning Furman, an Obama appointee, bought into the plaintiffs’ arguments that the citizenship question would lead to an undercount of illegal residents—and Hispanics in general—despite the lack of evidence supporting that claim. It is important to…

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The Census Citizenship Case Will Probably Be Fast-Tracked to the Supreme Court

Admin

by Kevin Daley   The Trump administration will likely leapfrog normal judicial procedure and appeal a federal judge’s decision removing a citizenship question from the 2020 census directly to the Supreme Court. In a sweeping decision running almost 300 pages, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman concluded that the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, violated a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act by inserting a citizenship question onto the census questionnaire. The issue the government now faces is one of timing: the Census Bureau must finalize the questionnaire in June to ensure printing and distribution proceeds on schedule. Given that time constraint, ordinary appellate process isn’t an option for the government. Though the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows parties to seek relief on an emergency basis, the Justice Department is unlikely to prevail in that court. What’s more, the Supreme Court has nearly finalized its docket for the current term. The high court hears cases from October to April and disposes of its cases by June. The schedule for a given term is generally set by the end of January. If the Trump administration wants the justices to resolve the census dispute this term, they will…

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