ORLANDO, Fla. 鈥� Gov. says the for Florida need 鈥渇ixing鈥� in a way that would give the Sunshine State another congressional seat.
The Republican governor blamed the last month for shortchanging Florida following the last head count of every U.S. resident and said that the nation鈥檚 third-most populous state deserves an extra seat in the House.
The once-a-decade census figures are used to divvy up congressional seats among the 50 states in a process known as apportionment and guides the distribution of in federal spending every year. Florida gained one additional House seat after the 2020 census, raising its total to 28.
鈥淲e are going to press this issue,鈥� DeSantis said last month at an Aug. 20 news conference. 鈥淭his is something that has stuck in my craw for a number of years because I remember telling everybody that we were going to get two seats at the last census, and then when they came out with it, we only got one.鈥�
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DeSantis鈥� desire for the extra congressional seat is different from recent efforts by states like Texas and California to redraw their congressional districts more advantageously for their state鈥檚 dominant party. It鈥檚 also different from Republican President Donald Trump鈥檚 calling for a census that would exclude people in the U.S. illegally.
Here鈥檚 a look at the facts:
DESANTIS: 鈥淓ven the Biden administration acknowledged that Florida got shortchanged in the reapportionment stemming from the last census.鈥�
THE FACTS: The Biden administration never said that. DeSantis is referring to the bureau鈥檚 , or PES, which was a self-evaluation of the quality of the once-a-decade census count, examining where there were overcounts and undercounts. by the bureau's career statisticians and demographers during the Biden administration showed that Florida had an undercount of almost 3.5%, meaning around 761,000 residents were missed. by Election Data Services shows the Sunshine State needed only around 171,500 more residents to gain an extra seat.
Five other states had undercounts like Florida 鈥� Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Eight state had overcounts: Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah. Undercounts signal people were missed, and the populations which are typically hardest to count include children, people who don't speak English, racial and ethnic minorities and people without stable housing. Overcounts suggest they were counted more than once, as for example, children of divorced parents who share custody or people with vacation homes.
DESANTIS: 鈥淚鈥檓 not a conspiracy theorist, but every state that shortchanged was a Republican state, and every state that got more was a Democratic state. That is just the truth.鈥�
THE FACTS: That鈥檚 not true. Illinois, which was undercounted, is led by Democrats. Ohio and Utah, where Republicans dominate, were overcounted.
But there are several reasons for Florida鈥檚 undercount. Florida, along with Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas, did not provide as many resources as most other states in encouraging residents to fill out census forms. DeSantis early calls to form a state committee aimed at mobilizing participation, and he the formation of an unfunded committee in January 2020, just weeks before the start of the count. New York allocated $60 million, and California spent a whopping $187 million, by comparison.
At the time of the census, Hispanics made up more than a quarter of Florida鈥檚 population and almost 40% of Texas residents. Critics said that the failed efforts of the first Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the census form may have had on the participation of Hispanics, immigrants and others. The 2020 from a pandemic, hurricanes and wildfires, social unrest and efforts by the Trump administration to end the count early.
DESANTIS: 鈥淚f we just take that (the PES undercount) and apply it, Florida would have at least one more seat. That鈥檚 just the truth.鈥�
THE FACTS: While it鈥檚 mathematically true that the undercount numbers would be enough for another seat, the overcount and undercount numbers can鈥檛 be used to change how many congressional seats are allocated among the states. The U.S. Constitution requires an actual count, or 鈥渆numeration,鈥� 鈥� not a sample like what is used in the PES 鈥� to apportion the population as equally as possible into the nation's 435 House districts.
鈥淯nder the Constitution, you can鈥檛 reassign congressional seats as DeSantis would apparently like based on something that is not an actual enumeration,鈥� said Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, a Latino civil rights organization.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a former chief of staff for DeSantis, seemed to acknowledge this in a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, saying 鈥渟teps must be taken now to right these wrongs.鈥� Uthmeier, a former senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the first Trump administration, proposed that the bureau should use the 鈥渒nowledge鈥� gained from the PES to conduct 鈥渁 tailored and streamlined manual recount.鈥�
When asked to explain what that meant, Uthmeier鈥檚 press secretary Jae Williams said in an email, 鈥渢he Attorney General鈥檚 letter speaks for itself.鈥�
