WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of people in Florida and Arizona may have been missed in the raw head count from the 2000 Census, according to new estimates from critics of the Bush administration's decision not to adjust the census for redistricting.
The estimates released Tuesday were the latest development in the continuing debate between Democrats and Republicans over whether data adjusted using a statistical method known as sampling provided the most accurate count of America.
The undercount estimates for Florida and Arizona were based on an analysis of 2000 Census data by Democratic members appointed by former President Clinton to a bipartisan board overseeing the census. The estimates were not sanctioned by the Census Bureau or Republican members of the board.
The Democratic estimates were expected to be addressed Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee.
The estimates indicated the census may have overlooked more than 208,000 people in Florida, or about 1.3 percent of the state's 16 million people.
The same report also estimated that nearly 61,000 people were missed in Arizona, or about 1.2 percent of the 5.1 million in that state.
However, undercount estimates for 35 of the 50 states in 2000 were smaller than for 1990, USA Today reported in Wednesday's editions. Still, nearly a half-million Californians may have been overlooked, along with 350,000 people in Texas and 300,000 in New York, the newspaper said.
The report was immediately criticized by House Republicans and GOP members of the board as "incorrect and irresponsible."
The Census Bureau has not released any undercount estimates on the state level, in part because it is still studying the issue. All 50 states must have redistricting data by April 1.
The Democratic estimates are inaccurate and were released for "purely partisan reasons," said Chip Walker, spokesman for Rep. Dan Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee's census panel.
Overall the Census Bureau has said the net national undercount in 2000 of an estimated 1.2 percent, or 3.2 million of the country's 281 million people, was lower than 1990, when an estimated 1.6 percent, or 4 million, were missed.
Commerce Secretary Don Evans cited those figures in deeming the initial head tally the official numbers for states to use for realigning political districts boundaries, calling it the "most accurate in history."
Many Democrats and civil rights groups maintain adjusted numbers should still be released regardless of Evans' decision. Supporters claim an adjustment would protect against traditional undercounts of minorities and children.
"The American people paid for a full census, and they should get one," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said Tuesday in sending a letter signed by 107 Democratic House members to the bureau urging release of adjusted data.
Besides redistricting, census figures are also used to distribute more than $185 billion in federal funds annually among the states.
The Constitution only calls for an "actual enumeration" and any statistically based adjustment could only lead to more errors, Republicans have said.
According to the Census Bureau, any decision on using adjusted data for purposes other than redistricting may not come until at least the fall, if adjusted figures are released at all.