The Legacy of Eldredge Gerry

The practice of defining electoral districts by putting a finger or two on the scales is nothing new to American politics. In 1812, Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was certainly not the first to draw electoral districts for the purpose of maximizing his...

Who Should be Counted?

Recent statements by President Trump, in conjunction with a recently introduced house bill, have refueled a contentious issue related to the decennial census and who should be counted. For many reasons, this has become a partisan rather than practical matter, but here...

Doubling Down on a Disaster?

Anyone following our newsletter these past years knows that we are not exactly fans of the way that disclosure avoidance (DA) was handled in the 2020 census. Planning for the 2030 census is already well underway, including a review of the DA methodology used in 2020...

Has it Been Five Years?

Hard to believe, but it’s been 5 years since the last census was taken. Starting January 21, 2020, the bureau started counting the population in remote Alaska and moved to kick off self-responses on March 12th when the first mailed notices went out. As we now know,...

Dealing with the 4 Million New People

Late last year, the census estimate jumped by over 4 million people. Over the past few years, news reports have indicated that more than two million people have crossed the southern border annually. The Census Bureau has the capacity to incorporate these figures into...

Diverging from Expectations

Over the decades, there have been many occasions when the data published by the Census Bureau is either likely or absolutely in error. Typically, we rely upon national and state level population estimates to use as control totals. This always presents a dilemma for a...