The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

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The Round Table: A YVote Podcast episodes

  • The Avengers of Politics

    At this week's Round Table, Divya, Inica, Isaiah, and Madeline spoke with Jordan Thomas, a 20 year old activist who has done quite a few remarkable things in his first two decades. Jordan served as his high school’s class president, was featured on the news in 2019 for taking an NYC subway to his prom, served as a supervisor at JFK airport at age 19 during the early part of the pandemic, and further capitalized on the pandemic to move himself to the city of Baltimore to pursue a career in law enforcement over the summer. Jordan’s goal in life is to be a public servant, to defend the defenseless and give voice to the voiceless, and be seen as a positive influence on people--goals we share and deeply admire. We talked about what it means to be a youth activist, differences between New York City and Baltimore, and what it will take for people to trust the NYC subway system--and so many other parts of city life--again. We always love learning about what makes people like Jordan tic and think you will too. Thank you for joining us!

    23 min
  • Planning has already started for the 2030 Census
    While we may all be experiencing some Census fatigue given the attention the Census has been accorded over the last year, the Bureau is already hard at work on next decade’s Census. The Biden administration has demonstrated interest in including new language on gender and sexual identity. That would generate the most comprehensive data set ever about the LGBTQ+ population in the United States.
    People who wanted to share that information in 2020 Census couldn’t: the only question was about sex, and there were only two boxes to choose from. A lot of research still needs to be done to figure out how to best gather that information in advance of the next Census, as there are generational differences in the ways people want to describe their gender identity and sexual orientation.
    1 min
  • The pandemic upended the 2020 Census
    Hansi Lo Wang didn’t mince words in sharing how the pandemic upended the 2020 Census much like it upended everything else. In person counting (AKA doorknocking) is the Bureau’s main way of reaching undercounted populations, but this year got off to a later start plus people were likely more reluctant to answer their doors in the midst of lockdown. Many households may have been missed.
    Further, there was a lot of moving happening during the pandemic, especially on what is considered Census Day--April 1. Technically speaking, wherever you are living on April 1 is considered where you live, but the reality was far more dynamic in this pandemic year. While you are supposed to identify with your primary residence, people who were living elsewhere may well have been counted wherever they were on that date. This was particularly confusing for college students, who SHOULD have been counted on their college campuses, but since many were living at home, they may well have been counted there. All of this could have confounded the accuracy of the data and could really throw off the numbers for the next 10 years.
    1 min
  • Racial and ethnic identity are more fluid than we acknowledge
    It’s interesting how an inherently personal decision--what box you’re going to check--gets quantified into something far more rigid when it comes to the Census. This is tricky because, as Hansi underscored, racial and ethnic labels shift over time--for ex, who identifies and is identified as White. The Census Bureau has conducted research that shows that some people identify themselves in one racial category in one Census and then a different one ten years later. Racial and ethnic identity is not static. When it comes to the Census, personal identifications get translated into very concrete implications through political processes, but we should keep in mind that these categories that are not set in stone and assumptions based on how one group may identify today may not turn out to be accurate moving forward
    1 min
  • What demographic changes can we expect?
    Many of us are wondering what changes in demographics will be demonstrated by the 2020 Census. Hansi Lo Wang underscored that we don’t have Census results yet, but based on existing trends, we can expect to see a U.S. population that is getting older, that Gen Z and millennials are becoming a bigger share of the workforce which has major implications for what the country will look like. Further, there are projections that we are becoming a racial and ethnic plurality, with racial and ethnic groups growing in many parts of the country with younger generations made up of a greater share of Latinx, Asian, and black.
    Olivia added in that it will be interesting to see how these demographic shifts impact electoral politics.
    1 min
  • Why teens should care about the Census
    Madeline asked Census Reporter Hansi Lo Wang a question that may be on many of our minds: why should teens care about the Census? Firstly, Hansi noted that many teens may ALREADY be filling out the Census if, for example, they are the strongest English speaker in the house.
    Beyond that, he noted that teens should be concerned for the same reason ALL Americans should be concerned: this is a fundamental set of information, data, and numbers that affects almost every aspect of everyday life, whether or not we are aware of it. If you don’t care about House seats, or Electoral College votes, you may care about how federal money for healthcare, for schools, for roads, for infrastructure is distributed, which is guided in large part by Census information. It’s vital information that illuminates who is living where in this country--and who may be living where going forward, which can help project demographic shifts and enable communities to prepare accordingly.
    1 min
  • The Citizenship Question
    You may recall that former President Trump wanted to add a kind of citizenship question that had never been included on every census form. As such, the Census Bureau conducted research in advance of 2020 to test out the anticipated impact of a citizenship question. It sent out a form that looked like the Census, half of which had a citizenship question and half of which didn’t. The Bureau found that there WAS a sensitivity and hesitancy amongst Latinx and Asian households when that question was asked, which could lead households with non-citizens not to participate in the Census. He noted that this can particularly imperil mixed status households, where some are citizens and some aren’t, risking not only non citizens not being counted but citizens.
    Hansi noted that if the goal was to get a more detailed count on how many citizens and noncitizens there are, there’s a less expensive and more accurate way to do so: using government records already conducted through other agencies. However, the Biden administration has countered the Trump administration in deciding that estimates conducted through the American Community Survey are adequate.
    1 min
  • To get an accurate Census count requires public trust
    Our podcast guest Hansi Lo Wang emphasized that trying to “force” people to respond to the Census--for ex, through a door knocker--may not provide the best and most accurate information because people can be stressed, rushed, or disinvested in full disclosure. We have to have people WANT to participate. That is predicated on having the public’s trust. Unfortunately, Public perception is a delicate thing, particularly in light of the Trump Administration’s attempt to have a citizenship question. We must remember that federal law PROHIBITS the government from releasing any personally identifiable information for 72 years. Further, Census information cannot be used against someone or in court. That said, although there are laws on the books, people have to believe those laws will be enforced if there are violations, and there were doubts about that during the Trump administration.
    1 min
  • The long and thorny history of the Census
    There is a long and thorny history of who has been counted in the U.S. Census and how the count was conducted--a legacy that continues to have reverberations today. For reasons known and unknown, people of color, renters, and rural residents are just some of the groups who have been undercounted decade after decade.
    As a result, the data that we have about certain population groups based on Census data is likely less accurate than what we have for the non-Hispanic white population, which is a cause for concern. Having inaccurate data collected is a big problem, especially at a time of shifting demographics in the country, because it risks decisions not being made on the most accurate and up-to-date information, which would disproportionately affect historically undercounted populations.
    1 min
  • There has never been a perfect Census
    Our podcast guest Hansi Lo Wang underscored that there has never been a perfect Census--there have always been historically undercounted groups. This emerged from our Constitution itself, which stated that an enslaved person should be counted as ⅗ of a free person (!) and specified the exclusion of Native Americans who were not taxed. Thankfully, this changed through the passage of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War and by 1940, the Census Bureau also determined that all American Indians should be counted so that was the first year that ALL Americans were used for apportionment to determine House seats and Electoral College votes.
    1 min

About The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

From the publisher's feed

The Round Table provides a platform for conversation and engagement of civically-minded young people from different parts of the country. We strive to model civil dialogue across various divides--socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, political, and regional. We aim to challenge norms and represent all kinds of diversity--especially of perspective and ideas--enabling listeners to “hear” our thinking.