Statement of Acting Census Bureau Director William Barron Regarding the Adjustment Decision

This is a forward from Cathy McCully at the Census Bureau about the Bureau's decision not to adjust the 2000 census data for non-redistricting purposes. Dr. Barron reported today:

After assessing considerable new evidence, the Executive Steering Committee for Accuracy and Coverage and Evaluation Policy (ESCAP) has recommended to me that unadjusted Census 2000 data also be used for nonredistricting purposes. The effect of this new evidence is that the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) survey overstated the net undercount by at least 3 million people. The cause of this error was that the A.C.E failed to measure a significant number of census erroneous enumerations, many of which were duplicates. This level of error in the A.C.E. measurement of net coverage is such that the A.C. E. results cannot be used in their current form. This finding of substantial error, in conjunction with remaining uncertainties, necessitates that revisions, based on additional review and analysis, be made to the A.C.E. estimates before any potential uses of these data can be considered. As a member of the ESCAP and as acting director of the Census Bureau, I concur with and approve the committee's recommendation that unadjusted data be used for nonredistricting purposes and have decided that the Census Bureau will release the remaining Census 2000 data products, postcensal estimates and survey controls using unadjusted data. It is reasonable to expect that further research and analysis could yield revised A.C.E. estimates and that these and that these revised estimates could be used to improve estimates developed as part of the Census Bureau's annual population adjustments for survey controls and for other purposes.

Cathy McCully, Chief
Census Redistricting Data Office
Bureau of the Census
Washington DC 20233
301-457-4039
catherine.clark.mccully@census.gov