Census Begins: Who’s Counting? | God's World News

Census Begins: Who’s Counting?

04/02/2020
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    Cookies decorated by Jasmine Cho, who was supposed to lead cookie-decorating activities at Census events in Pittsburgh in March and April. The spread of the novel coronavirus waylaid 2020 census outreach efforts. (Jasmine Cho via AP)

Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. It was also Census Day. Every 10 years, the U.S. Census counts where Americans are living as of April 1. But with the spread of the novel coronavirus, this was no ordinary Census Day. Census officials aren’t out counting, and the American public isn’t ready to be counted.

The United States conducts a decennial (every 10 years) census. The count helps determine how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets—a process known as apportionment. The census is also used to determine how the government distributes federal funds.

The headcount started in late January in rural villages in Alaska. But the rest of the country couldn’t start answering census questionnaires until the second week of March. That’s when the U.S. Census Bureau website survey went live. However, that was just a week before many governors and mayors started issuing stay-at-home orders to slow the virus’s spread.

Social-distancing guidelines have greatly hindered meetings and door-knocking to raise awareness about the 2020 census. They also mean census workers can’t count the homeless and people living in group quarters like college dorms and nursing homes.

Instead of March and April, most census takers won’t be sent out until late May. They’ll visit homes where people haven’t yet answered the questions online, by telephone, or by mailing in a paper questionnaire. Until then, the Census Bureau is asking people to answer the questions so they won’t have anyone knocking on their doors in the summer.

Researchers worry that changed living arrangements made because of the coronavirus may confuse some citizens. It may also present a distorted picture of where people were living on Census Day. Some people have left their usual residences to move back in with parents or elderly relatives, escaped to vacation homes, or had to move because they couldn’t pay rent due to lost jobs.

Tallying every person in the country is always a challenge, but 2020 could be ultra-difficult. By law, the count deadline is December 31. Some groups say the deadline should be pushed back.

As of Monday, more than 36% of households had already answered the questions. And census officials are hopeful. They say they’ll finish the job by year’s end. If not, postponing the deadline will require an act of Congress.

(Cookies decorated by Jasmine Cho, who was supposed to lead cookie-decorating activities at Census events in Pittsburgh in March and April. The spread of the novel coronavirus waylaid 2020 census outreach efforts. Jasmine Cho via AP)