Name: Stacey Abrams breaks down why the 2020 Census matters
Uploaded: 2020-04-06T05:20:05.000Z
Duration: 6 min 44 s
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Adverbs of manner

we turn now to Census Day, which is today only once a decade, the United States counts its people.

Basic passive voice

The result will determine the numbers of congressional seats and electoral college votes, and how more than a trillion dollars of federal spending is allocated.

Participle clauses

But as you can imagine, the Corona virus has upended to this process, raising fears that many won't be counted to talk more about the seriousness of all this.

Let's bring in former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, former Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and founder of the advocacy groups Fair count and Fair Fight action.

Thank you so much for joining us, Stacey having me so tell us about the disruptions that you're seeing as faras the census and how it's working.

The sentence was always going to be difficult because of the underfunding and the fear that was created by the Trump administration.

The citizenship question scared a lot of folks into believing that filling it out with somehow put them in jeopardy.

Luckily, a coalition of organizations got the Supreme Court to punch and kick the citizenship question off of the census form, but we still face underfunding.

However, I want to give the Census Bureau great credit for trying to accommodate not only the challenges they face financially but also adapting to covert 19 the data that's being collected.

It's not just relevant to elections, but also to the allocation of many other government.

So how will this impact everyday Americans if the count isn't 100% accurate?

This year, we have to remember is that the census is account not only of who we are, where we are and what we need.

If you have a utility bill or a cell phone, they already know how to find you.

What the senses tells them is who you are and what you need.

So it talks about the community ruling in the race troll issues that you face economic concerns, housing needs and in a time of code Corona virus and covert 19.

It applies to how many beds are in the hospital, how many masks are allocated and how much free sources are going to be invested in community.

And the problem is when communities are not counted, they simply are erased from the narrative.

I compare it thio doing RCP to a party you if you are sleepy and tell them you're coming.

You might get to see the concert up close, but if you fail to respond or if you can't respond, you're gonna find yourself in the garage.

With a cup of Kool Aid and a bologna sandwich wandering with normal good analogy, I think we can all relate to that.

So right now, as we all know, medical supplies are running low in many hospitals during this crisis, and states appear to be competing for federal resource is.

Could the distribution of these resource is be impacted by census data?

We know that there was an undercount of black and brown communities, communities of color, it large.

There was an undercount of young Children under the age of five and under count of immigrants and an undercount of renters included, as well as an undercount of rural communities.

When these communities are undercounted in 2010 what happened was that the planning based on those numbers never accounted for the increases.

Because you start with a false denominator, you felt you start with the wrong number at the base.

And that means even with the best statistical information, to increase the number you never get to where you need to be at your group.

Fair account promotes participation in the 2020 cents is, but you've had to suspend some of that work because of social distancing.

So how is that hampering your goal of getting everyone counted?

Of course, our ideal was going to be that we had a 60 town bus tour, that we were able to do aggressive door knocking.

We had our own organizer's and that we were working concert with other organizations, including the Census Bureau, to reach people.

What shifted to now is that our organized we're doing phone banking and text banking.

We may not have our bus tour, but we're going to do virtual tours.

But more importantly, you're still reaching out through networks that we established in 2019 especially faith based organization, because they tend to have the closest contact with community even in this moment.

How do you see the Corona virus crisis impacting how we vote and how some people might be hindered from voting?

No As you know, I also started an organization called Fair Fight.

Fair Fight 2020 is our national work and where we have operated in 20 states and we know that the right to vote is sacristan.

We also know, unfortunately, that the president is recently as Monday bemoaned the fact that if every eligible voter cast a ballot, he couldn't win elections.

And so he opposes making certain that every person could have a ballot if they're eligible for one.

But we know what the best answer and that is.

It is the safest way to vote for most Americans, and that means that every state should be given.

The resource is to send absentee ballots directly to voters so they can return those ballots postage paid and cast their votes.

So what's been the push back to this voting by mail concept?

Well, as Donald Trump said on Monday on Fox and Friends, if everyone gets to vote by mail, he won't win the election.

In fact, he said, Republicans won't win, and that's I think, deeply problematic because one it presumes that every American votes the same.

I certainly want my partner from elections, but our elections aren't partisan.

Our selections are, but our elections are not.

And when we have Republican leaders like the president of the United States or governors who are refusing to allow access like the Ivy in Alabama, who are requiring that you have to have an excuse to vote absentee, that will force a lot of people who are sheltering in place to either lie to be able to vote or to have to break their break the quarantine to go out into the public.

We should not make people make the choice between their health and their democracy.

Would you ever advocate for postponing the November presidential election, or is that out of your out of the question in your mind?

I told you I went to law school for a reason, and the Constitution does not permit a delay in the November elections.

It has to happen on the first Tuesday in the month of November, and the reality is that we're going to have that election.

The question is where we have an election that is free and fair or what we give in to fear and power hungry and undermine the very democracy we should be holding up as a light to the rest of the world.

I will be honored to serve if asked, but no one's asked me yet, but we'll see what happens.

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