The Question of Who Counts

Now that the 2020 census is over and the data are in, the redistricting wars can begin. All 50 states must divide their population into voting districts for the purpose of electing representatives to Congress and to the legislature of each state. The process is sure to be messy, partisan, and contentious—in other words, business as usual. But this year the decennial cycle brings with it a new constitutional question that could rewrite the fundamental rules of American democracy: whether to count noncitizens when apportioning political representation.

This is an enormously consequential question. As the late , excluding noncitizens “would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic whites.” Urban areas tend to lean Democratic and have a younger, more diverse population, including more immigrants, than rural areas. Those older, whiter rural areas, then, tend to have fewer immigrants and vote