General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Census: Why don't we all just boycott the citizenship question? (assuming there is one) [View all]Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)You accused me of doing something that had not even crossed my mind. I challenge ideas, I don't attack people. And, as I have said, the idea is not smart.
Your plan assumes that gerrymandered districts only impacts representation at the federal level; it doesn't. There are also gerrymandered districts within states. Refusal to disclose citizenship will tell the Republican lawmakers (who are already in charge of redistricting because of the last gerrymandered districts) precisely where the republican voters are - using answering that quesiton as a stand-in for republican. That allows them to better gerrymander those districts to ensure the Republicans remain in control. Once a district is gerrymandeed to permit Republicans will win, voter turnout matters far less because the district boundaries are drawn precisely to give a majority Republican vote in as many districts as can be rigged.
Denying them the data will not foil their plan - they will treat non-answers as non-citizens. And we will be stuck with that data - and the damage it does - for the next decade.
As for whether refusing to answer would impacts both the state and the federal level by impacting the number of seats assigned - that question remains open. In its last review of the matter, the Supreme Court expressly declined to answer the question of whether states could choose to draw (Federal House of Representative) district lines based solely on the voter-eligible population. Gerrymandering has at least as much, if not more, impact on representation in Congress than does apportionment.