Keep Counting Us
A case that could impact whether Asian Americans, other minorities are represented in state legislatures
The U.S. Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments today in the case Evenwel v. Abbott. It’s a case that turns on the legal question of whether the Constitution’s promise of equality of representation requires district lines to be drawn based on the number of people living in the district, or the number of voters.
Put simply — this is an important case that could have a far-reaching effect on minority voters, including Asian Americans, who are already underrepresented because language and other barriers often prevent our communities from registering or turning out to vote. Advancing Justice | AAJC signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.
What’s at stake for Asian Americans and NHPIs
As of today, regardless of whether a person is eligible to vote, s/he is counted when district lines are drawn for determining representation in his/her state legislature. The individual bringing this case wants to change that so that not everyone is counted, but instead, only registered or eligible voters. What this means is states could redraw districts so that rural districts with fewer immigrants, children and people of color have more representation, while districts with larger populations of children, immigrants and people of color have less representation in their state legislature.
For example, between 500,000 to 700,000 of the million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) living in Texas are not registered or eligible to vote. If redistricting is done according to the number of registered voters, rather than total population, hundreds of thousands of Asian Americans and NHPIs would be disenfranchised.
Why the court must continue to count total population in drawing district lines
Drawing districts based on total population, as it is done today, is much fairer than what the plaintiff in the case proposes. It’s the only way to ensure elected leaders represent equal numbers of people in each district. Our elected leaders don’t just represent the people who vote, they represent everyone in their districts. That’s how our representative government works.
If we abandon the longstanding use of total population for districting, communities with larger numbers of children would lose much-needed representation and resources. Plus, state legislators make crucial decisions about funding for things roads and schools — so it is important districts are drawn to represent everyone in the community, including children.
The impact on our communities being counted in the U.S. Census
How district lines are drawn is based on the U.S. Census, which is already being designed for 2020. Changes at this point would put the accuracy and cost-effectiveness of the population count in jeopardy, specifically hitting AANHPI communities, which are traditionally more difficult to count. In addition, if we move away from drawing districts based on total population to eligible or registered voters, the U.S. Census Bureau could have to begin to field questions around citizenship in order to determine voter eligibility. Not only does it take several years to research, develop and test new questions, this question could also deter many communities from participating in the U.S. Census and from being counted.
