The State Of The Census

WAMU 88.5 | By Haili Blassingame

Published September 28, 2020 at 3:01 PM CDT

A man wearing a facemask walks past a sign encouraging people to complete the 2020 US Census, in Los Angeles, California amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The census is up against a lot this year. There’sa pandemic, wildfires out West, and hurricanes in the South, which makes the already difficult, but Constitutionally-mandated task of counting every person in the country even harder.

And earlier this year the Trump administration announced it would end counting a month early. That decision was overturned by a federal judge, but the administration is appealing that decision.

If the administration were to win the appeal, the census count would end on September 30. And historically undercounted groups are facing an even greater risk of being left out of the census this year.

From NPR’s census reporter Hansi Lo Wang:

While the case continues playing out in court, plaintiffs are hoping the extra time for counting will improve the accuracy of the count.

“The coronavirus pandemic has set all of us back and created many challenges to get people counted, especially for rural areas such as the Navajo Nation,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement. “Today’s ruling should be respected to allow the census count to continue without disruption.”

“For the Black community, this decision means we have extra time to claim the governmental resources and representation that we’ve been denied,” said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, another plaintiff in the lawsuit.

We get the latest on the census’s progress.