The U.S. Census Bureau is changing the definition of an urban area, the AP reports. Under the new criteria, more than 1,300 small cities, towns and villages designated urban a decade ago would be considered rural.
That matters because urban and rural areas qualify for different types of federal funding. Some communities worry the change could affect health clinics in rural areas as well as transportation and education funding from federal programs. But leaders in other communities designated to lose their urban status say it won’t make a difference.
The Census Bureau also contends that it’s needed because a new privacy method introduces errors into 2020 census population numbers at small geographies to protect people’s identities. Housing counts stay accurate under the method.
Is this done to give one party a political advantage? Or something else?
Some commenters on the Fox News online site suggested the following:
Most rural communities vote Red so they have to add urban communities which usually vote blue to change that. How is the census any different now than the last several decades?
I’m sure somewhere along the line we’ll find that this change will be cited as one party gaining political leverage over elections and election boards.
I don’t understand the reasons the Census Bureau gives…. ” a new privacy method introduces errors.” Privacy? My suspicious side says they’re hiding illegals.
I strongly suspect this means less support for “rural” areas, more vote buying in the Democrat run slums.