Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.

The Census is in Danger

Last night, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it would be ending census operations on September 30, 2020. Shortening the timeline to collect data and rush operations during a national pandemic is an intentional plot to sabotage the census and skew Congressional representation, redistricting, and critical funding allotments for every state in the country.
  
But Congress can act to protect the census by ensuring that in the next stimulus package, provisions that the Bureau requested to extend the data delivery deadlines and deliver necessary funding to complete counting activities is included in the legislation.
  
Tell Congress to protect the Census in the next version of the stimulus bill.
   
COVID-19 has caused significant delays and disruptions to census operations which is why the Bureau has requested the extended household counting operations through October 31, 2020. In May, the Administration asked Congress to modify the statutory deadlines for reporting apportionment and redistricting data. Through this extension, census workers will be able to continue to count people experiencing homelessness, transitory locations like RV parks, group facilities like colleges and universities, and remote Alaska. The request would push back the December 31, 2020, deadline for transmitting the state population totals used to apportion congressional seats to April 30, 2021. Extending the data reporting deadlines will ensure that the data that is collected can be properly tabulated, organized, and analyzed to show the most accurate picture of the country and its diverse population.
   
To ensure a complete census, Congress must adopt the Bureau’s request to extend statutory reporting deadlines for apportionment and redistricting in the next COVID-19 relief bill and allocate $448 million to address continued 2020 Census challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Tell Congress that census operations must continue in a manner that facilitates a fair and accurate count. 
  
The census is the bedrock of our democracy. The administration’s politically driven plan drops their own request for Congress to delay the reporting deadlines for apportionment and redistricting data from the 2020 Census, in light of pandemic-related disruptions to the census. It was expert, career Census Bureau staff who advised that they needed the additional time to complete the census in all communities, and to process and tabulate the data in accordance with the Bureau’s critical quality standards.
  
A rushed, poorly tabulated census will affect all communities for the next decade. Tell Congress to legally extend the timeline for the 2020 Census and ensure a fair and accurate count.