Texts: US census manager told counters to use fake answers

[groundloop]

Source: ABC News

The texts from an Alabama census supervisor had an urgent tone. “THIS JUST IN ...," one of them began. It then laid out how census takers should fake data to mark households as having only one resident even if they had no idea how many people actually lived there.

The goal of the texts from October, obtained by The Associated Press, was to check off as many households as possible on the list of homes census takers were supposed to visit because residents never had filled out census questionnaires. The supervisor wanted the census takers to finalize cases — without interviewing households — as the Trump administration waged a legal battle to end the once-a-decade head count early.

The texts are the latest evidence suggesting census accuracy was sacrificed for speed as census takers and supervisors rushed to complete a head count last month. Critics contend the schedule was shortened by two weeks so the Trump administration could enforce a presidential order excluding people in the country illegally from the numbers used for apportionment of congressional districts.

The texted instructions said that if two failed attempts were made to interview members of the households, along with two unsuccessful tries to interview landlords or neighbors about the homes' residents, then the census takers should mark that a single person lived there.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/texts-us-census-manager-told-counters-fake-answers-74376974?cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_twopack_hed

[Jilly191]

1. The Census Needs a Major Redo in 2021

... to make up for the slipshod, discriminatory manner in which is was conducted and shortened in 2020 via Trump et al.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Plus there have been many excess deaths. . . . nt

[yellowdogintexas]

9. The count was based on occupancy before or on April 1.

If they weren't there April 2, it did not matter. If person(s) were new occupants, we would census them for their prior address and find out anything we could about the prior occupant in the current residence. Problematic in apartment complexes where turnover is quick. or in neighborhoods where no one answers the door

I made several attempts on one house, finally interviewed the guy next door; turns out the house was being used as an air b & b and no one had lived there for over a year.

We were not encouraged to assume one occupant unless a neighbor or apartment manger told us only one person lived there. That applied to our area (DFW) but other parts of the country were likely quite different

We could however create anonymous names for the residents if they were overly concerned about privacy issues. I used that a lot when I could only speak with a son or daughter who knew everything but hesitated to list the whole family without parents being there. If they were over 15 we could use their information.

[Doreen]

3. Could Biden legally have the census redone properly?

[James48]

4. Not without some kind of Congressional authorization

The good news is I really don’t think this kind of thing was very widespread.

[pazzyanne]

5. This may explain why Alabama is failing on so many levels.

It ranks 49 out of the 50 states overall. It is last in education. There is definitely room for improvement.

[yellowdogintexas]

12. undercounting resulted in loss or reduction in Federal funding for public

services, like first responders, schools, commercial enterprises etc.

A large new development which did not exist in 2010 would need all those things and if they were not counted they would stand to not get what they needed

[not fooled]

6. Did that happen

primarily in black neighborhoods?

Wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that it did.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. It primarily happened here in Hispanic neighborhoods

Those folks were pretty scared of Immigration officials. We weren't asking about citizenship or residency in the US, just residency in the house on APril 1 or prior.

Elderly who were afraid to come to the door were probably undercounted.

One of my interviewees had family in Birmingham and they told him Alabama would probably lose a Congressional Representative due to undercounting. Our population here has grown so much that we may gain as many as 4.

[BlueIdaho]

7. That should be enough to void the Census...

Unlike the election, falsifying census results should be enough to involve the Supreme Court. Time for a do-over under Democratic control.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. If you don't count the people, it's not a census

It's a statistical estimate. I think they need to find out how inaccurate it is, and try to find a rework to shore up errors.

[yellowdogintexas]

11. the good news is that a large percentage of the population did the census online

This was the first time this method was used and it reduced the number of people we had to contact.

We always left a note with the access code which was assigned to the residence and instruction in ENglish and Spanish. Sometimes the resident was at home but could not take the time for the interview. These folks were happy to do it online.

I had a number of homes to visit which inexplicably had more than one access code assigned due to errors in the property listings; we could delete those. pretty much all of them had already filed using the first postcard received. One man said now I know why I kept getting those postcards!

[mahina]

13. The census worker assigned to me clicked through a bunch of answers he chose

Without even telling me what the questions were. He was a colossal jackass.