A Fair & Accurate Census
Census results are used to draw district lines, allocate seats in Congress, and distribute government funding for essential services. The Brennan Center fights to ensure a fair and accurate census.
Gerrymandering & Fair Representation
Why It Matters
Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a count of everyone living in the country. The results are used to decide how many seats each state has in Congress, draw district boundaries for everything from congressional seats to city council seats, and allocate over $1 trillion each year in government funding for services like education, food assistance, infrastructure, and more.
The 2020 census faced a barrage of obstacles, from improper interference by the Trump administration to chronic underfunding to the Covid-19 pandemic. The administration’s failed efforts to add an untested citizenship question and to rush counting and data-processing procedures at the last minute sowed fear and confusion about participating in the count. While the census escaped complete disaster, it fell far short of its goal of counting every person. Communities of color continue to be undercounted at disproportionate rates, with Black, Latino, and Native American people in particular missing from the numbers at unacceptably high levels. Meanwhile, overall census response rates remain stuck in a decades’ long rut.
The Brennan Center is pursuing a far-reaching advocacy, organizing, and public education campaign to protect and improve the census. We helped block the citizenship question and extend the timeline for the count. And with the 2020 census now behind us, we are advocating for reforms to census law and policy to ensure that future censuses are more legitimate, accurate, and equitable.
Solutions
Limit Executive Interference in the Count
Political interference that hampers the collection of accurate and equitable census results must be prevented. Congress should increase the independence of the Census Bureau and limit the involvement of political appointees in the bureau’s work.
Improve and Protect the Bureau’s Data Collection Methods
Census operations must be transformed for future decades. This includes loosening restrictions on counting methods and urging the bureau to resolve long-standing issues, such as incorporating a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) ethnic reporting category and a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) question on the questionnaire.
End Prison Gerrymandering
Prison gerrymandering deprives communities of color who are disproportionately represented in the prison system of their fair share of political representation. Efforts to count incarcerated people at their pre-incarceration addresses for future censuses should be supported and bolstered.
Vigorously Enforce Laws Protecting Confidentiality
The law is clear that census responses must remain confidential and cannot be used against individuals in any way. The government should broadcast its commitment to census confidentiality and put in place stronger safeguards against misuse.
Ensure Adequate Funding for the Census
Congress should approve sufficient funding to ensure a complete and accurate count in 2030 and beyond.
Read more in our census reform report.
