| This email came from Chris Carson, President of the League of Women Voters, on March 27th:
Late last night it was announced that the Commerce Department has made the decision to include a question pertaining to citizenship in the 2020 Census. Make no mistake: this decision isn’t about improving demographic data on citizenship. It’s designed to frighten immigrants—citizens and noncitizens alike—so they won’t participate in the Census. It’s a blatant political maneuver meant to disenfranchise these groups and deny them equal representation. Including this question on the Census undermines the rights of eligible voters and threatens a process vital to our democracy. For more than 200 years, the Census has collected information about the geographic distribution of our population so we can provide representation and invest in our communities equitably. Without a complete count of our nation’s people, businesses will not have the tools to make sound investment decisions that keep our communities thriving. The United States Constitution mandates an accurate count of all people living in the United States – not all citizens. Non-citizens are an integral part of our economy and need to be included in the 2020 Census to paint a complete picture of our great country. The clock is ticking toward 2020. |