New Data Confirms Severe Undercount of Latinos in Census 2020

Arturo VargasVargas

The Census Bureau has a lot of work to do moving forward so that it can rebuild trust with the public and reestablish itself as a premier source of population data. The Bureau must continue to conduct assessments and evaluation to inform its planning for future census data collection programs and surveys — including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Census 2030. By learning from the challenges that confronted Census 2020, we can enhance our understanding of the Latino undercount and modernize the census.

As the Bureau moves forward with its assessment and evaluation, we encourage it to continue to engage data experts, advocates, and other stakeholders, including those with expertise on the Latino community. The Bureau must also continue keeping stakeholders informed about the obstacles it faced while conducting and evaluating the PES — including any that can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, this undercount further demonstrates the dire need for the Census Bureau to make fundamental changes to how it counts the U.S. population. We can no longer rely on the traditional methods of mailing forms out to households and encouraging the public to respond — and conducting door-to-door interviews with households that do not complete these forms.

These chilling factors left the Bureau mired in scandal and setbacks, undermining its mission to count our population fairly and accurately

If our country can find a way to pull through a once-in-a-century global pandemic, we can find a way to count all of our residents fairly and accurately. We need to modernize the census with a fresh approach to make the progress needed to reach this important goal.

Arturo Vargas is the CEO for National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

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