Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Census official denies problems

A U.S. Census Bureau official denied Wednesday allegations of fraud or other problems with the recently completed count in Las Vegas.

"The Census Bureau has reviewed the Las Vegas numbers," said Steve Jost, associate bureau director.

He said the bureau hasn't found any evidence of inaccurate or fraudulent reporting from the region. Jost's comments echo local bureau officials, who said Tuesday that they don't know why the region would be criticized.

Rep. Dan Miller, a Florida Republican, included Las Vegas among 15 areas of the country that had suspicious numbers. Most of the areas had relatively large minority populations and suffered from large undercounts in the 1990 Census.

Chip Walker, Miller's spokesman, said the congressman is not demanding a recount, as the Associated Press reported Wednesday, but simply wants the bureau to "pay very careful attention" to the counts in the suspect areas.

Walker said Miller, chair of the House Census Subcommittee, suspected problems in the Las Vegas area because of the speed of the count.

But the local census effort had several time advantages which Miller did not take into account, Jost said.

A relatively high number of mail-in responses meant that the door-to-door enumerators had less to do, he said. Also, Southern Nevada had about twice the national average of qualified applicants and hires for those enumerator positions, meaning that there were more people to do the door-knocking work.

Finally, the area actually started the door-to-door effort three days early in order to catch college students who would likely leave after the spring term ended, Jost said.

Las Vegas and other areas of the country were targeted by the bureau with additional resources and community partnerships to increase the count. Las Vegas and Nevada had one of the worst response rates in the country in 1990.

Political leaders from both parties joined religious and civic organizations to pump up the Nevada census, which is key to getting federal funds and could provide the state at least one more seat in the House of Representatives.

Jost said that effort has paid off -- Nevada had the third-best improvement nationally in the 2000 count.

Census Director Kenneth Prewitt, in an Internet news conference Wednesday, also denied the charges.

"Yesterday the census was described as a census gone awry," Prewitt said. "The facts do not support this characterization."

He said the bureau's regular follow-up will reveal any inaccurate information.

Miller cancelled a scheduled subcommittee hearing Wednesday to air the census issues.

Miller's allegations are politically motivated, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee.

"This is an attempt, based on no real evidence, to discredit the census because the Republicans fear that it is going well," Maloney said.

"The timing of the attack, a week before their convention, makes you wonder whether they are simply trying to provide cover to (presumptive Republican presidential nominee) George Bush, since he opposes an accurate census," she said.

Walker said the census issue had nothing to do with partisan issues. A recount would only bring in more people in the targeted areas, he said.

"This is just a false accusation being tossed around by the Democrats," Walker said.

The bureau has admitted to problems in one of Miller's 15 areas -- Hialeah, Fla., and is checking numbers in several areas around Chicago.

"We have not found any systematic problem with the census anywhere outside of Hialeah," Jost said.

He noted that the census, as part of its policy, regularly checks the accuracy of information supplied by local offices coast-to-coast.

Local census officials have said those checks have not produced any evidence of problems.

"We have strong confidence in the census in Las Vegas," Jost said. "We're very proud of the census in Las Vegas."

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