Census Bureau Director’s Blog Post: “Anomalies” in Data are Not as Scary as they Sound

By EditorMar 09, 2021

Michael Thieme, Assistant Director for Decennial Census Programs discusses the back-office processing of census data "anomalies" and what that really means. The article, by Thieme's admission, is meant to address the confusion surrounding the term and explain that anomalies are "a signal that the quality checks on the census are working." He gives a detailed and informative look at just what anomalies really are and how the Census Bureau addresses them, including the various categories of anomalies. Thieme also assures readers that "we have not found any anomalies that are impossible to fix." Read the blog entry here.

Census Data and Geography, DATA and TECHNOLOGY, FEATURESAnalysis, census, census 2020, dataindepth, redistricting data, U.S. Census Bureau

Watch: Census Bureau Briefs States On Redistricting Data Delivery Delay

By EditorMar 09, 2021

Watch this virtual briefing by the bureau last week on what exactly is taking so long with the redistricting data that states need to complete maps. Redistricting data will be delayed at least six months until Sep. 30. James Whitehorne, Chief of the Census Redistricting & Voting Rights Data Office at the Census Bureau, briefed state officials during this meeting hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The meeting begins with a short update on the status of H.R. 1, a sweeping election reform bill currently moving through Congress that would impose dramatic structural changes to the congressional redistricting…

Census Data and Geography, FEATURES, VIDEOAnalysis, census, census 2020, dataindepth, national, U.S. Census Bureau

PlanScore Announces Online Redistricting App for Measuring Partisan Bias

By EditorMar 07, 2021

As the push for more transparency and less partisanship in redistricting intensifies, PlanScore aims to be "a trusted, non-partisan resource for the redistricting efforts to come in the 2020 cycle." The nonprofit organization formed by top legal, academic, and technical experts in the field, will do this by offering an online diagnostic tool for redistricting maps. The Online App The online service will assist legislative staff and the general public by allowing any geographic file uploaded by site visitors to be checked for its partisan, demographic, racial, and geometric features. The analysis gives plan-wide scores for several statistical measures that…

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, FEATURES, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting GerrymandersAnalysis, dataindepth, planscore, redistricting data

Listen: Census Bureau Official and NCSL Director Discuss Redistricting Data Quality and Delays

By EditorMar 07, 2021

In this "Our American States" podcast hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) James Whitehorne, chief of the Redistricting and Voting Rights Data Office at U.S. Census Bureau, and Wendy Underhill, who oversees the Elections and Redistricting Program at NCSL discuss how the pandemic affected the bureau’s ability to collect data, and how states are responding to the six-month delay for redistricting data. Podcast https://redistrictingonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OAS_Episode_124.mp3 For more podcasts visit the Our American States Podcast Page at NCSL.org

Census Data and Geography, DATA and TECHNOLOGY, FEATURES, LATEST, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting PrepAnalysis, census, census 2020, dataindepth, ncsl, podcast, redistricting data, U.S. Census Bureau

Special Citizens Voting-Age Population Tabulation Canceled by Census Bureau

By EditorFeb 10, 2021

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…

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, NEWS, Redistricting Prepcensus, census 2020, cvap, dataindepth, national, national news, redistricting data, special tabs, U.S. Census Bureau

(Privacy) Invariants Set for 2020 Census Data Products

By EditorNov 28, 2020

The U.S. Census Bureau has determined the specific files within the redistricting data release that will not be altered for privacy purposes. Or in other words, which files will have 100% true totals. They are Total state population, total housing units by census block, and group facilities by census block. For more on the Bureau's disclosure avoidance (differential privacy) program, click here. Read the entire announcement below for additional details. Invariants Set for 2020 Census Data ProductsOn November 24th, the Census Bureau’s Data Stewardship Executive Policy Committee (DSEP) finalized the list of “invariants” for the first set of 2020 Census…

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Census Bureau Director Says “Processing Anomalies” will Delay Census Data Release Schedule

By EditorNov 20, 2020

On November 19th the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau released a short statement acknowledging "certain processing anomalies" in the decennial census data collected earlier this year. While the director did point out that "processing anomalies" have been encountered in previous censuses, no further detail was given to put the current anomalies in context. According to the New York Times, the new deadline for delivering congressional apportionment data to the president is on or about January 26. The statutory deadline is Dec. 31. Just what is a "processing anomaly"? An answer is difficult to come by from the Bureau, but…

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, NEWS, Redistricting Prepcensus, census 2020, dataindepth, national, U.S. Census Bureau

Washington State Data Office: Privacy Protected Census Data it Sampled is “Unfit” to Use

By Michelle DavisSep 14, 2020

"The majority of the data output from the DAS [disclosure avoidance system] appears to be unfit for most uses." Is how a letter to the Census Bureau's Disclosure Avoidance Team starts off. The letter, from the Washington State Office of Financial Management, which runs the state data center, sums up the results of the state's usability test of census data treated with a disclosure avoidance technique called "differential privacy," which introduces "statistical noise" into the dataset in order to maintain the privacy of individual data. Sampling the Technique: If you are unfamiliar with the technique you can read more about…

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, LATEST, NEWS, Redistrictingcensus, census 2020, dataindepth, differential privacy, U.S. Census Bureau

Watch: House Committee Holds Hearing on Census Timeline

By EditorSep 13, 2020

On September 10, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing on the status of the Census Bureau's operations in light of Covid-19 delays and other challenges. The hearing was prompted by suspension of count operations in April due to Covid-19, a failed request for Congress to extend critical statutory deadlines for delivery of census data, and an abrupt pivot by the bureau to end its count operations early in an effort to meet the original deadlines for delivery of apportionment and redistricting data. https://youtu.be/c4OF6jQFfgc Witnesses include: J. Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues Team, Government Accountability Office…

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, LATEST, NEWS, VIDEOcensus, census 2020, dataindepth, national, U.S. Census Bureau

What Does Differential Privacy in Census Data Mean for the Task of Redistricting?

By Michelle DavisSep 08, 2020

The law requires that any identifying information you give the Census Bureau be kept confidential for 75 yrs, but simply removing your information from what is published is no longer enough. Big data and powerful computing technology now allow almost anyone to "reconstruct" the seemingly anonymized information. That means it is increasingly possible to identify who you are, where you live, and other information from the census results. Here's how the Census Bureau plans to combat that. New for the 2020 census, the U.S. Census Bureau will be using a process called differential privacy to inject "statistical noise" into the…

Census Data and Geography, FEATURES, Redistricting, Redistricting PrepAnalysis, census, census 2020, dataindepth, differential privacy, U.S. Census Bureau