Quorum Report: Daily Buzz
By John Reynolds
Biggest challenge is persuading suspicious communities that information is protected
An official with the U.S. Census Bureau told members of a House redistricting committee today that the biggest challenge facing the decennial count of the country’s population was communicating to the public that the process is secure and safe.
Cathy McCully, the bureau’s chief of the census redistricting data office, also asked for the state’s help in supporting the census effort. Thirty-eight states have state-level committees to assist the Census Bureau in identifying areas that will be hardest to count.
While several local jurisdictions in Texas have such complete count committees, there is no statewide committee, she said.
But in response to a question from Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio), McCully said the biggest challenge is making sure people trust the government when it says that the census is secure, simple and that information collected by the agency won’t be divulged.
She acknowledged widespread distrust of the federal government in many communities. So the task for the Census Bureau is to get the message out that it collects data and is not enforcing laws or conducting programs.
“We are collecting data to support communities,” she said. “It’s important that folks understand it is safe to take part in the census.”
Independent organizations have made predictions that Texas could gain as many as three to four seats based on population estimates made by the Census Bureau. McCully said today that she couldn’t comment on what the final reapportionment numbers might be and whether the new seats would be driven by population gains among minority groups.
An accurate census count, she said, is not just important for determining how seats are apportioned in the nation’s legislative bodies but also for properly allocating large portions of government aid. Census number guide the distribution of more than $3 trillion over a decade, she said.
As such, she said that it’s important to get accurate counts among every community in the country. To help, the bureau plans a three-part advertising campaign to raise public awareness and to work with partners to identify and reach out to hard to count areas.
Census questionnaires will be printed in six languages (English, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese) while promotional materials will be published in 28 languages and further assistance will be available in as many as 101 languages.
The results of reapportionment will be known by the end of 2010 but more specific population data that will serve as the basis for individual states’ redistricting efforts will go out in phases through the early part of 2011. McCully said that Texas would be one of the first states to receive that data because of the tight deadlines here on writing the new maps.