Shift to digital census raises fear of Iowa-like breakdown

[usaf-vet]

Source: AP

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The stakes are high when a major civic exercise involves a large population, new technology that has not been thoroughly tested and an entire country waiting on the results.

Just ask the organizers of the Iowa caucuses, which offered a cautionary tale on the technological woes that could befall a big political event. Some observers worry that this year’s census carries the same potential for mayhem — except on an infinitely larger scale.

The U.S. Census Bureau plans to try out a lot of new technology. It’s the first once-a-decade census in which most people are being encouraged to answer questions via the internet. Later in the process, census workers who knock on the doors of homes that have not responded will use smartphones and a new mobile app to relay answers.

A government watchdog agency, the Census Bureau’s inspector general and some lawmakers have grown concerned about whether the systems are ready for prime time. Most U.S. residents can start answering the questionnaire in March.

“I must tell you, the Iowa (caucus) debacle comes to mind when I think of the census going digital,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, the congressional delegate for the District of Columbia, said this week at a hearing on the census.

Read more: https://apnews.com/a62a81eaac97c58fb0c2f689f014076e

[Srkdqltr]

1. One slip of coding or an overload and poof... all gone.

All this stuff should be on Paper first. This is way to important to leave to digital.

[sandensea]

2. They're planning on altering the results

"Look, ma! Texas has more people than California now!"

[Lonestarblue]

4. Exactly!

Look for blue states to lose population and representation.

[sandensea]

7. And, I suspect, among the different congressional districts

"Ma! Can you believe it? Louie Gohmert's district has more people than all of Houston now! Wow!!"

[cp]

5. Do any of us trust Wilbur Ross?

It's a terrible idea to test new technology on a once-a-decade project that has HUGE consequences for the whole country. And that's if there were honest brokers, so knowing that the party of Trump is in charge, this stinks.

[Dem2theMax]

6. We do have a choice.

We don't have to do the census electronically. Just wait for the paper version to arrive.

[Talitha]

8. Yep, that's the only way to do it.

[Dem2theMax]

9. That's what I'm doing.

[patphil]

10. Although I support electronic systems for things like the census, and voting,

These systems would have to be carefully thought out, carefully designed, meticulously constructed, thoroughly tested, and continuously monitored and revised in an environment subject to impartial review.
It has to be a non-partisan process that is not driven by elected politicians or people that owe their jobs to those politicians. It can't be done by a for-profit company, or, for that matter, by any private company whatsoever.
The only way it could work is if a consortium of computer science grad schools did the work and maintained it.

Unfortunately, that's a dream that can't possibly happen in this super-partisan world we live.

So collecting census data over the internet is absolutely unacceptable, unless you have preconceived ideas of the results you want the census to produce.

In other words, it only works if you plan to manipulate the results.

Pat Phillips

[riversedge]

11. good lord. what next!!