Redistricting to be based on raw Census data

MARCH 7, 2001

In an action that will leave as many as 150,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives uncounted, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans on Tuesday ordered unadjusted Census population figures be used to redraw the nation's political boundaries.

Declaring the Census 2000 the "most accurate" in history, Evans accepted the recommendations of Census Bureau researchers who concluded last week that no adjustment be made to recently collected population figures. His decision also handed a political victory to Republicans who have been pushing for the use of raw data for redistricting purposes.

But Democrats and civil rights groups criticized Evans' move, arguing as many as 3.3 million Americans, mostly minorities, would be missed unless the Census data was adjusted. And with billions of dollars in federal funds at stake, they argued a sampled count would protect the populations most at risk.

Emphasizing that his decision affects only redistrcting, Evans did not rule out that adjusted data will be released sometime in the future and said population figures were still being evaluated. That process, however, will most likely take months for Census Bureau professionals to complete, he said.

For now, states will begin receiving unadjusted figures this week. Governors and lawmakers in New Jersey and Virginia will receive their data today with several other states scheduled to receive figures later this week. South Dakota, with an estimated American Indian population of 8.2 percent, will receive new figures on Thursday or Friday.

Historically, American Indians and Alaska Natives living on and off reservations have been the most undercounted population. A whopping 12.2 percent of Indian Country was left off the 1990 Census.

This time around, the Census Bureau improved its on-reservation count. But with a net undercount of 4.74 percent, American Indians and Alaska Natives living on reservations are still the most undercounted group in the country: at best, only 2.8 percent were missed; at worst 6.7 percent were left off.

In response to Evans' decision, the US Census Monitoring Board, a bipartisan group that monitors the activities of the Census, plans on releasing additional research on the benefits of sampling. The Board in recent weeks has been pushing for the use of sampled data noting that American Indians are often dramatically affected by an undercount.

Board member and former Undersecretary of Commerce Dr. Everett Ehrlich also said Evans ignored concerns raised by Census Bureau professionals about the amount of time they had to make their recommendation. Evans yesterday acknowledged there were lingering questions about sampled data, but given the "compressed time frame," they made the right decision.

"I wish that it was possible that they could resolve some of these issues in the few weeks ahead," said Evans. "They tell me that that's not possible, they won't have additional information to evaluate the data for months, and in some cases years. But at the end of the day there were some issues that they couldn't resolve."

Get Evans' Remarks on His Decision:
Press Conference on Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Federal News Service 2/6)

Relevant Links:
US Census Monitoring Bureau - www.cmpb.gov
US Census Bureau - www.census.gov