Race questions face new fight ahead of 2030 Census
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A fight over whether the 2030 Census should stop asking about race and ethnicity has drawn more than 100,000 public comments, according to advocates tracking the federal docket.
Why it matters: The change could weaken the nation's most complete snapshot of race — data used in civil rights enforcement and redistricting — just as America grows more multiracial.
Catch up quick: The Census Bureau proposed in September to stop asking Americans about their race and ethnicity on the once-a-decade census.
- The Census Bureau says a shorter form could encourage more people to respond, while greater use of existing government records would reduce the need to ask certain questions.
- The proposal wouldn't end federal race data: Census could obtain demographic data from government records and other sources and ask about race and ethnicity on the American Community Survey (ACS) and other surveys.
- But civil rights advocates say that would give the federal government more power to determine people's race and ethnicity, rather than the respondents, leading to inaccurate data.
State of play: Census extended the comment deadline from Oct. 13 to Nov. 2.
- An outside analysis of 52,424 published comments through Oct. 16 found 86% opposed the overall proposal, while 88% addressed removing race and ethnicity questions.
- This week, an advocacy alert citing Regulations.gov said the docket had topped 108,000 submissions.
- These comments are not meant to be treated like a survey or poll, but show that people who feel strongly enough to comment tend to be opposed.
What they're saying: "If you've ever fought for political maps or explained why race or data matters...it is vital that you tell the Census Bureau what losing that information is going to mean to your work and to your community," said NC Counts Coalition executive director Stacey Carless.
The big picture: Race has appeared in some form in every decennial census since 1790, but how Americans identify themselves has changed dramatically.
- The number of Americans reporting two or more races rose from 9 million, or 2.9%, in 2010 to 33.8 million, or 10.2%, in 2020.
- Census says improvements in question design, coding and processing accounted for a substantial share of that increase, along with demographic change.
The bottom line: The Census Bureau hasn't explained how it would produce detailed racial population counts without asking Americans to identify themselves.
- The agency already combines information from government and other records to determine people's race and ethnicity when working with administrative data.
- But its proposal doesn't say whether that system would replace people's own answers in the 2030 Census.
