It is critical for census outreach to continue through October 31.
An accurate census count is the bedrock of our democracy, as it determines the share of political representatives that each community receives. We know that this extra month is absolutely necessary to ensure a fair and accurate count, which everyone in the United States is guaranteed in the Constitution.
The Trump administration has changed its decision on when to finish the census count multiple times in order to intentionally cause confusion and depress the count. In August, the Trump administration transparently attempted to suppress the count by moving to cut the deadline to respond to the census and be counted from October 31st to September 30th. Last Friday, a federal court judge ruled that it was required that census outreach continue through the end of October — and today, the Bureau reversed course again, stating that it aimed to finish data collection by October 5. This is unacceptable.
Cutting census data collection short would prevent hundreds of thousands of people from being included in the census — particularly working class families, rural communities, and people of color. The Trump administration is clearly motivated by political gain, out of a desire to continue consolidating power.
This move from the Trump administration comes on the heels of several other efforts to undermine the 2020 Census. The failed attempts to add a citizenship question to the census questionnaire and exclude immigrants from the apportionment process similarly tried to defy constitutional requirements to represent every person in the United States equally. These efforts to twist a nonpartisan process for political gain have alarmed observers across party lines.
An accurate census is needed for all people who call the United States home. It’s needed to uphold the constitution and to secure fair representation for all, regardless of a person’s background or means — which most of us agree should be the bedrock of our democracy.
Samantha Biasca, Program Manager at Na’ah Illahee Fund, spoke about the importance of this decision for the count of Native American communities: “Indigenous people are one of the most historically undercounted populations in the nation. A shortened timeline would mean tens of thousands of missed Native American people in the census data and millions of dollars diverted from our communities.”
Margot Spindola at Latino Community Fund, who organizes census outreach to Latino and rural communities, said: “Here in Washington, most of us believe that all of our residents count equally — in Eastern, Central, and Western parts of the state. The Trump administration’s misinformation efforts and attempts to cut the census short have contributed to low self-response rates in rural Washington, especially in Ferry and Okanogan Counties. Rural communities rely on door-to-door census outreach, partly because unlisted addresses can’t receive census materials in the mail. Cutting door-to-door outreach short by a month would have a devastating impact on the count of rural communities.”
Kamau Chege, Director of WA Census Alliance, said: “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that President Trump and Bill Barr tried to suppress the count by appealing this ruling, just as they’re trying to suppress votes ahead of the election. They’d like working class Black and Brown folks to believe they already rigged the game and there’s no point in trying to respond to the census, in the same way they’re sowing cynicism about voters casting their ballots. We all need to talk to our friends and complete the census today — because we might not get the chance tomorrow.”
