Staff Reports
Some Republicans in Congress are working to change the questions on the census form to include a question about citizenship. They want to make sure that only people who are citizens are counted when deciding how many House seats and Electoral College votes each state gets.
The bill they are voting on is called the Equal Representation Act, and it is expected to face opposition from the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House because the Constitution says everyone should be counted during the census.
Republicans renew push to exclude noncitizens from the census that helps determine political power https://t.co/o46dRho3z9
— Aiken Standard (@aikenstandard) May 8, 2024
Some people are worried about this proposal and say it reminds them of efforts during the Trump administration to change the census in a way that would give the Republican Party an advantage. They are concerned that this could change how political power and federal funding are distributed.
Similar efforts were made before the last census in 2020, but the Supreme Court stopped the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the census form.
Some Republicans supporting the legislation believe that counting noncitizens in the census gives an advantage to the Democratic Party. They argue that including people who are not citizens could change the representation away from American citizens and benefit places with large numbers of noncitizens.
On the other hand, opponents of the bill argue that adding a citizenship question to the census could increase the cost and make it harder to get accurate information. They also say it could violate the Constitution.
This proposal has raised concerns among redistricting experts, civil rights groups, and Democratic lawmakers, who fear that it could change the way political power is distributed in the United States.
