While the big news from the Census Bureau regarding the delayed apportionment and redistricting data has dominated the headlines as of late, the bureau also announced that it would be discontinuing its efforts to create a post-2020 “special tabulation” of the citizen voting-age population (CVAP). This special tab would have been a detailed estimate of the citizen voting-age population nationwide. Here is what you need to know about this development.
A CVAP Special Tab is already Produced Annually by the Bureau.
The special tab that was discontinued by the bureau recently is not the annual CVAP tab that it has been producing for over the decades. This annual CVAP tabulation was originally created from the census 2000 data. Shortly after the 2010 census, the U.S. Dept. of Justice began using this special tab annually to assist in the enforcement of the language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act, among other things.
This annual special tab is created using the survey data from the latest American Community Survey, not the decennial census. The special tab that was recently cancelled, was the bureau’s attempt to comply with the Trump Administration’s now defunct executive order to supply the needed citizenship population estimates in order to adjust the apportionment count. Presumably, the data could also be given to states who wished to redistrict using CVAP data as opposed to total population data.
How is the Post-2020 CVAP Special Tab Different?
So why not just use the existing CVAP special tab that gets produced annually already? Because that information is not as detailed as the would-be post-2020 special tab. The annual special tab provides citizenship estimates down to the “block group” level, while the post-2020 special tab would have attempted to report citizenship estimates down to the census block. Most census blocks are under a square mile in size. The annual special tab reports CVAP estimates for groups or “clusters” of 40 census blocks on average, clearly a less detailed estimate.
Where was the Bureau Going to Get the Information for the Post-2020 Special Tab?
The Census Bureau never really established a coherent strategy for obtaining this more detailed CVAP data. Since the 2020 census does not have a citizenship question, the bureau had embarked on a piecemeal strategy of using a variety of government administrative records, such as from the Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Indian Health Services, Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics and in addition, some state administrative records.
The Census Bureau was scheduled to release its annual CVAP special tab on Feb. 1st.
