To: Congress, State legislatures, and Local officials
2020 Census: We will be counted
If we don’t get the 2020 Census right, vulnerable communities will lose access to vital resources and representation in government. That means it’s up to our representatives to sufficiently budget for next year’s count -- and make sure a dangerous question on citizenship is kept off of the survey.
Why is this important?
Donald Trump and his administration are determined to undermine and politicize the 2020 Census with a dangerous question on citizenship status.
Last month, the Supreme Court suspended the administration’s ability to add this citizenship question to the survey, rejecting their reason for including it as “contrived” -- but Trump and his team are relentlessly trying to add it anyway. Such a question is estimated to dissuade more than 6.5 million people from filling out the 2020 Census.
The Census is constitutionally required to count every person living in the United States. And that mission is at risk -- if the Census doesn’t get proper funding and manpower, or if Trump’s team is successful in coming up with a new way to add an intimidating citizenship question.
If either happens, we risk a severe “undercount” -- cutting millions out of political representation and jeopardizing the very foundation of our democracy.
The 2020 Census will shape our nation’s government, public policy, and budgets for an entire decade. The data we gather determines everything from congressional district maps to local resource allocation -- like school funding, the number of firehouses in our neighborhoods, and highway and road repair budgets.
People of color -- particularly Black and Latinx communities in both urban and rural areas -- are at an especially high risk of being undercounted by an underfunded or unfair Census. This would deprive countless people in the U.S. of resources, political representation, and the right to a democracy that truly represents all of us.
We can’t let that happen. Add your name and tell lawmakers in your state to make sure the 2020 Census is conducted fairly and fully funded.