Welcome back to the show! New Yorkers learned the hard way this year that not filling out
the census can have big consequences. I asked Mike Brown, Amy Hoggart and Mike Rubens to
learn more about what happened. In 2020, the event with the biggest political
effect wasn’t the election, or COVID, or impeachment, or Tiger King. Okay, fine, those
things were important. But so was the census. To learn about how the lack of census response
in places like New York will have a huge impact on federal funding, the Electoral College,
and congressional seats, we sat down with the ACLU’s Dale Ho. See, there’s just
as much drama in the census as in Tiger King! - If we had gotten better census responses,
it’s possible we wouldn’t be losing a seat in Congress.
And that’s not the royal “we,” that’s the New York “we.” As in “we f****d.”
Experts are saying that if just 89 more New Yorkers had completed the census, New York
wouldn’t have lost one of its congressional seats. Eighty-nine people. That’s how many
people you share your first New York City apartment with! What happens to the seat in
Congress now that we lost it? - It goes somewhere else. Texas, Florida,
and other parts of the country where their populations have increased according to the
census count. We just fought like heck to take the country back, and now Congress is
very narrowly divided. You wake up in January 2023 and you’re like, “how the hell did
we get a Republican Congress again?” And if it’s by one seat, I can tell you 89 people
that could’ve made the country be a different place.
Ugh, experts are supposed to make us feel better, not worse! Let’s try another. And
the deadline for the census, was that numerologically significant?
- This is an incredibly contentious chart. Saturn left its power seat, driving the stellium
of doom. If the people had called me, I would say don’t conclude on this date because—
Did they call you? - No.
Turns out while Republicans have been working for years to steal seats, they just had to
wait for Democrats to give them away for free. Ugh, why are we so predictable?! So Amy, Mike,
and I went searching for these 89 New Yorkers to let them know the damage they’d done.
Count it down. Three, two... Mike!
Did you fill out the census? - I did.
- I did. - Our parents filled it out for us.
I’m sorry guys, can I interrupt? I’m so sorry, you guys. Did you guys fill out the
census? - [singing] Yes.
Yes! Sorry. Anyway, if these people didn’t have a problem completing the census, why
did those 89? Could we have done anything differently?
- You get those 89 people when you give some sort of incentive.
What if I—, Would this be enough of an incentive? - I just know that New Yorkers are greedy.
Greedy? - Greedy mofos.
- “I got 89 problems and the Census is one.” Predictably, the incentives helped a bit.
God, Americans are so shallow. Let’s give out some tee shirts!
- I gotta fill that s*** out. But like most census efforts, it wasn’t
enough. Sticker?
- No! But what happens now?
- The New York legislature, through a redistricting process, will ultimately adopt a redistricting
plan. Shouldn’t Democrats be allowed to gerrymander
for the next couple of cycles just to even things out?
- No, that’s not what I would say. I would say that the lines should be drawn in a way
that serves voters. Well, I mean, it would be serving voters.
Couldn’t you just, like... a little? [noises] - I’m not following.
[noises] - I...
And if we can’t gerrymander because that is the “death of democracy,” then maybe
there’s a way to plan ahead? - God willing we’ll be here in 2030, but
the one thing we learned through this process is if you build out effectively a campaign
to get people to fill out the census, you will get results.
It’s also mind-blowing to lose a congressional district because 89 people just said “nah,
I’m good.” If the past four years have taught us anything, it’s that every vote
counts. And if that’s true, then every 89 votes definitely count. Democracy is all about
citizen participation—and not just in the sexy elections, but in midterms, city council
meetings, local school board races, and yup, you guessed it, the census. So enjoy the next
ten hot girl summers, and we’ll see your sexy census self in 2030. Look who else is
going to be there! Did I inspire you guys to become census workers
in 2030? - A really big maybe.
A really big maybe! We’re turning things around in New York City!
We'll be right back!