Census 2020 Data Collection Is Being Cut Short

The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Monday, August 3^rd that it would cut its schedule for 2020 Census data collection a month short. The ability for people to respond to the questionnaire online, by phone, or by mail (i.e., self-response), as well as door-knocking follow-ups by census field workers to non-responders will stop at the end of September instead of the end of October, as previously planned.

The change is problematic because it will result in missing more people, particularly those who are part of hard-to-count populations. The result will be less accurate and trustworthy. Everyone should be concerned about the impacts of cutting short this constitutionally required count before it is done to the best of our ability.

The problem is huge

For a typical once-a-decade census count, it takes census workers about four months to conduct door-to-door follow-ups for the approximately 40 percent of households in the nation that don’t self-respond. But, nothing is typical for this census due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The follow-ups in the field, which normally begin in May, have not yet started in most of the country by mid-August. The map below shows that only a “soft launch” has happened in some areas of the nation, and most of the hard-to-count areas are not included in these. That leaves a maximum of one-and-half months for the door-knocking census data collection.

The completeness of Census 2020 is in serious doubt.

The stakes are enormously high

Ending the data collection early could lead to a significant undercount, especially in hard-to-count areas that may deprive much-needed funding, as well as political representation for residents in those areas.

SEMCOG has worked diligently with our member communities to promote the census. We, along with our local communities, have promoted the Census all year long. Our region has an overall response rate of 72.6 percent, which is higher than the Michigan response rate of 69.0 percent and significantly higher than the national rate of 63.4 percent. However, SEMCOG’s Census 2020 Self-response Rate Interactive Map shows a large variation of self-response rates among communities. Currently, Huntington Woods has the best response rate of more than 90 percent. On the other hand, we have communities in our region that have response rates below 50 percent.

The communities with the lowest response rates are predominately those most in need of the resources associated with the state and federal programs which are distributed based on census data. Missing a person could lead to a loss of $1,800 federal funding per year for the next decade as well as political under-representation. Having a complete count is crucial for funding health care, transportation, and education, and for our democracy.

The solution is multifaceted

One reason for the Census Bureau to end data collection early is because it has the obligation to provide congressional district apportionment data by December 31, 2020, and redistricting data by the end of March in 2021. The Bureau has requested that Congress extend those deadlines by 120 days. The request passed the House as part of coronavirus-relief legislation, but is now stalled in the Senate. Extending those deadlines would definitely help the completeness of this census that has suffered many drawbacks besides the pandemic, including years of underfunding and various debates on the questionnaire.

The Census Bureau is trying to ramp up its field operations by hiring more workers, holding extra trainings, and planning to reward workers who work the maximum hours possible. Households that did not self-respond need to work with the census workers to help them fill out the forms while following the guidelines on dealing with the coronavirus. We recognize that the Census Bureau’s ability to conduct this process in a pandemic is seriously constrained. Besides counting people in households, they also need to count people in other living arrangements, including nursing homes and college dorms. Those are certainly not easy tasks in the current reality. Adequate time is needed to conduct these operations.

Meanwhile, it is even more important to encourage people to self-respond. It has never been easier to self-respond because this is the first time in the history of U.S. Census that we can respond online, in addition to phone or mail. It takes about five minutes for each household to complete the questionnaire at 2020census.gov.

Everyone must use all the means at their disposal to make sure that everyone is properly counted in the Census 2020.