Inside Trump’s Stealth Trick to Rig the Census—and Congress

The resulting census is hugely important to the functioning of our government. It determines how many congressional representatives each state gets and how districts are drawn. It thereby also affects how many votes each state has in the Electoral College process used in presidential elections. And it plays a role in how [trillions of federal dollars](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/decennial-census-federal-funds-distribution.html) are allocated each year, since census data are used to calculate funding levels for health care programs, nutrition, highways, housing, school lunches, etc. The stakes, in other words, are incredibly high. Which makes this rules submission process so profoundly important. And here’s the kicker: So far, virtually no one has noticed. Let me warn you that this issue gets a little weedy. That’s by design; the administration *wants* you to not understand what they’re doing, so you won’t notice you’re being disenfranchised and robbed until it’s too late.