Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Editorial: Census charges off base

The chairman of the House's census subcommittee believes that the Census Bureau miscounted households in 15 metropolitan areas across the nation, including here in Las Vegas. Rep. Dan Miller, R-Fla., is suspicious that some census offices completed their work faster than others did and also saw large increases in the count's last weeks. Still, Miller has yet to offer concrete examples of where fraud may have occurred. Indeed, Miller's unsubstantiated accusations more likely stem from partisan differences that House Republicans have had with Census Bureau officials.

Miller should have checked his facts before including Las Vegas in his laundry list of offices that he says "exhibit disturbing characteristics." To begin with, state and local officials in Nevada -- including top Republicans -- acknowledged that the state's poor census showing in 1990 resulted in an undercount, which in turn meant less federal funding since much of it is based on this count. So Nevada officials launched a media blitz this time to get Las Vegans to return their 2000 forms. In addition, Census Bureau officials note that they started their count here three days earlier than in most parts of the nation. Both of these factors offer plausible reasons for the higher-than-usual counts in Las Vegas. Census officials also tie the late surge to the excellent mail-in return rate -- the final door-to-door canvassing had a better success rate since the re were fewer homes to visit.

The Census Bureau itself acknowledges there are places where serious errors have occurred, such as in Hialeah, Fla. But so far no one has supplied any credible evidence that mistakes, let alone wrongdoing, occurred in Las Vegas. It's time for Miller to either put up or shut up.

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