Comer Probes Inaccuracies in 2020 Census Count that Skewed Apportionment

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is conducting oversight of inaccuracies in the 2020 Census and their consequences on apportionment of representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, Chairman Comer requests documents and communications related to identified errors or deficiencies that led to an inaccurate count in the 2020 decennial census count.

“An accurate census ensures that the national population is fairly represented in Congress, and by extension, that the Electoral College approximates demographic realities. On April 26, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau announced results of the 2020 Census and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo delivered those total population counts to President Biden for apportionment of representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the Census Bureau’s 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey (‘PES’)—designed ‘to measure the accuracy of’ the decennial census—identified significant errors in the counts of numerous states. Significantly, these errors likely led to an erroneous apportionment of representatives among the states,” Chairman Comer wrote.

Census population counts affect congressional representation and can be the deciding factor in additional representation in a delegation. While there were no significant miscounts in the 2010 Census, the 2020 PES identified significant errors in numerous states which raise concerns about political bias. The PES identified the majority of overcounts occurred in Democrat-leaning states, while the majority of undercounts occurred in Republican-leaning states. 

“The 2020 PES identified statistically significant overcounts in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Delaware, Minnesota, Utah, and Ohio, while finding undercounts in states like Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Illinois. […] However, the miscounts in the 2020 Census—particularly given that overrepresentation appears to have tended to noticeably skew in favor of one political party over another—demands additional scrutiny of potential political influence by the Biden-Harris Administration or other deficiencies that would explain these errors,” Chairman Comer continued.

Read the letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos here.