In early August the federal government withdrew a request to lengthen the amount of time for Census data collection. Due to COVID-19, the timeline was extended to October 31st and now is proposed to end on September 30th. Constitutionally mandated, the census count happens every ten years. Cutting short the time for data collection means that customary outreach by Census workers will not be complete. Aa a result, fewer children, BIPOC people, low-income or people living unsheltered are less likely to be counted. Incomplete or inaccurate data collection potentially will negatively impact the accuracy of the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities. and research that relies on Census data.
Currently more than a third of households have not responded to the Census, and the response rate in census tracts with kids at high risk of being missed lags the nation by almost 15 percentage points. Cutting short the time period when census takers knock on doors is a specific tactic not to have all U.S. residents be captured in Census data.
Learn more about the issue: www.censuscounts.org
Here are a few recent news articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/us/2020-census-ending-early.html
