The results of the US Census 2020, released last week, are discouraging: As previously reported, the state will lose one seat in Congress and the delegation of New Yorkers on Capitol Hill in Washington will be reduced from 27 to 26.
The fact that only 89 residents were not enough to keep the representation at the same level raises many questions. They say that due to the pandemic, it was not possible to count the population with the required accuracy.
State authorities are considering legal action. The Governor asked Attorney General Letisha James to explore all options.
Mayor de Blasio blames the Cuomo administration for the incident. In an interview on NY1, he said, “For God’s sake, if the state invested so much money in this event, couldn’t it be possible to find 89 more people to survey?”
The fact that 89 residents are missing does not mean that the state’s population has decreased. On the contrary, it has grown over the past 10 years by 800 thousand people and is now about 20 million. The problem is that other states grew faster. It is no secret that many people left New York, some because of the high cost of living, some in search of places where they can pay less taxes.
The results of the census will also affect the change in district boundaries, which is now being carried out in the state. An independent commission has been created, but it is very likely that its members will not come to a consensus, and then the legislature in Albany will itself undertake to redraw the map of districts for elections to Congress and local legislatures. How this will be done is not yet clear. It all depends on the updated census data, which will be made public no earlier than August.