James Uthmeier
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a petition with the U.S. Census Bureau following the release of data showing that Florida, as well as five other red states, were undercounted in the 2020 Census while five blue states were overcounted.
“The Census was designed to ensure equal representation for citizens of the United States, not those who are here illegally or temporarily,” Uthmeier said in a press release about the petition. “The way we count our population has a direct impact on how political power is distributed across the nation, and our state deserves an accurate count that ensures Floridians are represented fairly.”
Uthmeier says the undercount resulted in direct consequences for Floridians, including the loss of at least one congressional seat, as well as significant federal funding. Meanwhile, he says left-leaning states retained seats they were no longer entitled to hold.
Uthmeier argues that these numbers were achieved by a change in methodology, accounting for every person physically present in each state, regardless of citizenship and immigration status. This resulted in more political representation for states harboring large numbers of illegal aliens and dilutes power for states with stricter adherence to the rule of law.
In the petition, Uthmeier requests that the Census Bureau take the following actions to return to historical Census-taking standards:
Inquire about citizenship and immigration status … both legal and illegal.
Exclude illegal or temporary residents from the apportionment, which determines the distribution of political power (and United States Congressional seats) across the country.
Exclude the children of illegal and temporary residents from the census apportionment.
Stop the use of statistical inferences that manipulate the census numbers.
By addressing these systemic flaws, Uthmeier says the petition seeks to restore equal balance among the states and people, which he says is what was originally intended by the Constitution.
