Governor Evers, with Election Day a few weeks away, this is probably not at the top of your to-do list, but Wisconsin needs to take a hard look at its 2020 Census count.

Why? Because, I’m not convinced it’s accurate. 

For the record, the Census Bureau says Wisconsin’s population grew just over 3.5% from 5.7 million to 5.9 million in the last ten years. 

Neighboring Minnesota was singled out with an overcount of nearly 4% and Illinois was undercounted by nearly 2%. We’re surrounded by miscounted states even the Census Bureau considers “statistically significant.”

First, full disclosure, as my opinion is anything but objective. I worked for the Census from the spring of 2019 until the fall of 2020 as a Partnership Specialist. My job was to work with counties across Southwestern Wisconsin, including  Green County, promoting community engagement. 

As a team, we were expected to generate partnerships that could lead to greater participation. The government spent endless millions promoting the Census, but in the end success would likely depend upon these one-to-one connections between community leaders and workers like myself.

Yes, we were “feds” but people were generally inclined to believe us — I think because we were local. Away from politics, the Census is largely about money. Your population count has a direct impact on how much of the $1.5 trillion dollars in federal aid is ultimately targeted to your state.

In January of 2020 word came down from Chicago headquarters we weren’t generating enough partnerships. Not just in Wisconsin, but across the country numbers were down, partly due in part to COVID restrictions. Nationally, teams were pulled from the field but and assigned to dramatically beef up the numbers.  

Working the phones, we asked local leaders to be partners. Most agreed, but our bosses said we weren’t doing enough. Then we were told to start adding names of groups or individuals who might be interested in joining but not to bother asking them, just add their names to the lists of partners.

The mind numbing illogic of “sign them up but don’t tell them,” was incomprehensible. But it was made clear, if we didn’t like the orders, we could leave. 

Three of us, myself and two other Partnership Specialists, had had enough. As far as we were concerned, we were pumping the numbers with imaginary partnerships. Census promised Congress hundreds of thousands of partnerships and they would get them. 

The reason for the partnership push must have been political. If we delivered less than promised it could hurt the bureau’s budget for 2030.

That’s when we filed the Whistleblower complaint.

It was around Christmas of 2020 when we posted a two-page memo outlining problems with the program. First question from the Inspector General (IG) was asking us to give up our anonymity. We declined.

Two months later, the IG ordered an investigation. But — hang on to your hats — the IG ordered Census to investigate itself. Had we finally stepped through the looking glass?

The IG eventually completed the whitewash with a recommendation of no further action. A disappointing, but not shocking decision, since the fox in the hen house was also, apparently, in charge of their public relations.

Lately, there has been some solace in the fact media organizations have also been investigating what’s widely being called the “failed 2020 Census,” resulting in some states and cities reexamining their counts.

Boston is filing a formal challenge to the Census’ conclusion that it lost thousands of citizens in 2020. The more likely explanation is colleges lost student counts because of the pandemic shutdown. 

The Brennan Center for Justice released a report saying Census missed some 5% of our nation’s population which equates to 19 million people. This in addition to disproportionately undercounting people of color, with the Latino undercount at a rate more than tripling the 2010 Census.

The Pew Research Center says Census’ own Count Question Resolution program has drawn complaints from 20 local and state governments so far, including Puerto Rico. All are upset about their numbers and want them reviewed. 

One of the nine Wisconsin communities pursuing corrections from the Census is Belvidere in Buffalo County. Ironically, village leaders are upset because the Census Bureau is insisting that 403 people live there while the village (and the Wisconsin Department of Administration) says there are only 386. 

Those seventeen “people” are significant because bills like recycling are often based upon population. If the numbers aren’t changed, Belvidere could end up paying the bill for seventeen people who, literally, don’t exist.

County Clerk Deborah Ruff says she found Census people difficult to work with. “They keep asking for proofs, which I give them, but all they do is tell me I’m wrong but won’t say why.”

“Arduous,” is how Fontana’s Village Administrator, Theresa Loomer, describes dealing with Census officials. This after Census added an extra 1250 more people to its population base of nearly 1900.  

The bureau apparently moved a group quarters from one district to another making it part of Fontana. Loomer credits the Wisconsin Department of Administration for getting the map corrected. 

Working there for nearly 18 months, it was obvious the Census like most bureaucracies, is less than perfect. Interference from the Trump administration. Shortened deadlines. Undercounts. Overcounts. Wide swaths of people missed. Pick a problem.

28% of the states (14 of 50) were either over or undercounted in the Census. That’s not a great score when you consider they had billions of tax dollars, thousands of employees, and a decade to prepare. Census was always fond of bragging they were the second largest mobilization of Americans other than in a war.

The best reasons for a recount can be found in the Census records. According to the Pew Research Center, Census numbers are, “largely accurate.” But that means overlooking a record undercount of Hispanics and a record over count of white adults.

Governor Evers, you’ve never stopped being an educator even while you’re been in office. Win or lose on Election Day, this is not the time to stop. Counts in almost a third of the states are wrong. Regardless of the politics, regardless of the pandemic, regardless of spending billions, they didn’t get it right. 

They got it, “largely right.” For what we paid, Wisconsin deserves better. 

— Emmy Award-winning producer Jerry Huffman has covered politics on three continents during his career.