Census Archives » Native Voice One

2020 Campaign Vision

February 18, 2020 By Bob Petersen

The race to be the next president of the United States heats up this week.

This is Trahant Reports.

We have heard from Iowa and New Hampshire — two states that are less representative of the country as a whole — and beginning now a lot more voters will weigh in.

Nevada kicks off the next round with a caucus this weekend. Then South Carolina and then more than thirty contests in March. In fact some two-thirds of the Democratic delegates will be allocated before the end of March.

And Donald J. Trump is cruising through the Republican primaries in states where there is even a contest. There is little question that the GOP will renominate the president — so much so that many states have cancelled the primary vote.

In order to win the nomination, a Democrat must earn 1,991 delegates for the first ballot and 2,375 on the second. This is where it gets interesting. Most of the primary elections are proportional. So a candidate may win the state but only earn a couple more delegates than the other candidate. There is also a bonus if a candidate tops 50 percent … and with this many candidates that’s not likely.

There are a couple of scenarios worth considering.

First, Senator Bernie Sanders could run away with it all. He has an army of volunteers in every state and is now the front-runner. There are establishment Democrats who are uncomfortable with a Sanders nomination. They fear the word “Democratic socialist” will turn off voters and put more states in play for President Trump. But, there is no one “moderate” that people agree on. And candidates are not likely to quit the race just on this point. On the other hand, Sanders is bringing new voters into the process. One exit poll showed that in New Hampshire, Sanders had more votes from young people than all of the other candidates combined. The case for Sanders is that he is bringing about generational change, and that this is not an ordinary election.

The second scenario is that a lot of people will win states. Perhaps it will be former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigeg, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Tom Steyer. If that happens there is a chance no candidate gets the magic number to win the nomination. If not, it will be up to the convention to come up with a candidate. The last time that happened was 1960 with John F. Kennedy.

Indian Country will get a voice in the days ahead. Some of the caucuses in Nevada will be in tribal communities. And Indian Country Today has invited candidates to Arizona for a conversation with Native journalists. Plus there will be a national debate in Arizona in March.

A little more than a month from now we may have a clearer picture about the 2020 election.

I am Mark Trahant.

Nation’s census begins in Alaska Native village

January 24, 2020 By Bob Petersen

The once every decade census kicks off this week in the village of Toksook Bay, Alaska. Enumerators will be doing what they can to make sure that every village resident is counted.

This is Trahant Reports.

In Toksook Bay there will be Yupik language translators working with the the Census Bureau to make sure the count goes smoothly. But across the country … that’s a real problem.

Natalie Landreth, a senior attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, told Indian Country Today that “zero dollars” are being spent on language assistance in Alaska. She said Native groups were told that if it was important, they should do it on their own.

And that’s not the only problem with the census.

Indian Country is difficult to count for many reasons: Distrust of government, rural geography, the lack of street addresses, transportation, even WiFi.

Across the country demographers figured the last census reflected an undercount of 4.9 percent for Native Americans and an even higher 8 percent in Alaska.

That literally translates into the loss of millions of dollars for roads, health care, and other essential governmental services.

Landreth said it’s important to remember that the census was not designed to count every American Indian and Alaska Native so it’s “an act of rebellion” when it does occur. She says: “Make yourself heard because I don’t think they want to hear from you.”

The reason why the census is in the US Constitution is representation. Every ten years the data from the census are used to draw congressional districts and in each state legislative districts. This is an attempt to make sure that every person has a voice.

And we have a long way to go in that category. Previous census reports figure that American Indians and Alaska Natives are about two percent of the population. But representation in Congress (and most state legislatures) is far less.

There are a few states that use data to buck the trend, though. Montana has worked hard to make that happen; American Indians make up 6.7 percent of the state and 7.3 percent of the legislature. That’s rare. Most states have little or no Native voice in its governing body. And Congress is only about three-fourths of one percent.

My grandmother used to tell me about life during the Great Depression. She said my grandfather finally found a job with the Census Bureau. It paid one dollar a day.

She told me:

“We found an old railroad box car and moved there. We lived on beans and potatoes for months and months . . . but at least we had our own home and that was better than living with his mother.”

Then, there are a lot of family stories in the census records. By law the documents are sealed for some seventy years … but after that there is a treasure to be found.

I am Mark Trahant.

2020 Census in Trouble

September 17, 2018 By Bob Petersen

A troubled Census: Norm DeWeaver, James Tucker, and Liz Medicine Crow, talk about the challenges for Native people in the 2020 Census. (Photo by Mark Trahant)

American Indians and Alaska Natives are undercounted during the best of circumstances, like every time the U.S. conducts its once-a-decade count.

And this year? Trouble ahead.

This is Trahant Reports.

Yes, the 2020 Census is in trouble. It’s been in trouble for a while, said Norm DeWeaver, a consultant who has served on Census advisory boards, and has works with tribes to improve their count.

DeWeaver said Census troubles have been brewing for several years because Congress hasn’t wanted to spend enough money on the process. Congress has the idea that the Census should cost the same as it did a decade ago.

Native communities have a number of additional problems, ranging from the lack of rural addressing to a justified concern about answering questions from the government.

Yet the stakes are huge. One estimate says that every tribal citizen who is not counted costs their tribal government at least $3,000 in lost federal services.

Let’s put that in perspective. If a 10,000 member tribe is undercounted by 5 percent, that’s a loss of $1.5 million a year in federal funds, every year, for the next ten years. Many federal programs and block grants use Census numbers to determine the spending. The Census itself says the undercount of American Indians and Alaska Natives was 4.9 percent last time around. Most experts think the undercount was much higher.

The top 16 federal programs use Census data to determine funding models and block grants. James Tucker an attorney said: “If you are not counted, you do not exist for purposes of those federal grants and you are hurting your tribe. It’s as simple as that.”

In getting ready for 2020, there were supposed to be field tests at Standing Rock and at Colville, a way to test the methodology, but those were called off to save money. Yet it’s that practice, that improves the count.

Three U.S. Senators, Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; said the Census was setting aside Native communities for “other priorities.” The three senators asked the bureau to come up with an action plan to be certain that there is an “accurate and cost effective process to count all American Indians and Alaska Natives.”

Another reason why the Census is so important is because it determines representation in the Congress and state legislatures. One Congressional district is about 700,000 people (except in states where there is one member for the entire state). Several states are hoping that population gains will mean an additional seat because of the 2020 count.

Elizabeth Medicine Crow of the First Alaskans Institute says Alaska Natives should have had at least two additional seats in the state legislature based on population.

So how do you fix the Census? The best answer would be more support from the Congress. But another answer is for tribes to do more of the work on their own — in a way bailing the federal government out.

I am Mark Trahant.