In August 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau published a notice in the Federal Register seeking input and suggestions from the public on the operational design of the 2030 Census. The 2020 Census was plagued by issues from its administration to its results. The Bureau’s solicitation of feedback provided stakeholders with their first official opportunity to voice their concerns in the hopes of preventing their recurrence in the next decennial census. On November 14, 2022, Fair Lines America Foundation submitted its response to the Bureau’s notice.
In its submission, FLAF addresses the delayed release of 2020 Census data, the statistically significant undercounts and overcounts revealed by the Post-Enumeration Survey, the catastrophic impacts of applying the Bureau’s new differential privacy algorithm to 2020 Census data, and several other issues undermining the integrity of the decennial census. FLAF strongly advocates in favor of a number of changes aimed at restoring the public’s trust in the decennial census and ensuring the accuracy of its results, including the abandonment of differential privacy, a full disclosure and explanation of the Bureau’s last-minute changes to its enumeration and count resolution procedures, and the reestablishment of the Census Monitoring Board with modifications to ensure bipartisanship cooperation.