petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant ... - Election Law Blog
petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant ... - Election Law Blog
petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant ... - Election Law Blog
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35aAppendix Dgreater than) <strong>the</strong> city-wide average in <strong>the</strong> districts thatalready have <strong>the</strong> heaviest concentrations of <strong>the</strong> Hispanicpopulation.2. Reliability of ACS Dataa. Sampling ErrorDr. Rives testified that <strong>the</strong> ACS data utilized by Mr.Ely cannot be considered highly accurate and should notbe relied upon. (Trial Tr. vol. 1, 76-77, Feb. 18.) He firstwarns that ACS data can be subject <strong>to</strong> significant levelsof sampling error because <strong>the</strong> sample sizes are small. (Id.at 78; Defs.’ Ex. 4, at 11-12.) The one-year ACS surveysamples approximately 1/1000 people, whereas <strong>the</strong> Censuslong form samples approximately 1/8 people. (Trial Tr.vol. 1, 129-130, Feb. 17.) Dr. Rives also contended that<strong>the</strong> Census Bureau cautions data users <strong>to</strong> consider ACSsampling errors when using ACS estimates by including amargin of error with each value in <strong>the</strong> ACS table. (Defs.’Ex. 4, at 11.)Mr. Ely defends <strong>the</strong> ACS survey data, claiming that itis highly accurate. He argues that <strong>the</strong> ACS is conductedwith a rigorously researched sampling frame and surveymodel, it is put <strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r by an organization that knows<strong>the</strong> process, huge investment has been made in conductingit, everything is done according <strong>to</strong> normal statisticalprocedures, and it is ultimately <strong>the</strong> best availableinformation about current demographic characteristics.(Trial Tr. vol. 1, 132, Feb. 17.) Additionally, Mr. Elysuggests that <strong>the</strong> fact that all <strong>the</strong> ACS data is reported