State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

With 2020 Census Looming, Governments Face Many Unknowns

Governing: Local governments are always concerned about Census undercounts. If all their residents don’t show up in the official tallies, they can lose political power in legislatures and Congress and millions in federal funding grants. This year, there are a couple of reasons localities are more nervous than usual.

The first has gotten a lot of attention. A question about citizenship that the Trump administration wants to add to the Census form has communities worried that immigrants and refugees will be much less likely to participate. That question is being challenged in court, but local governments are already thinking about ways to reassure residents that their citizenship response won’t be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Cities are also seeking clarity from the Census Bureau about whether forms on which the citizenship question is left blank will be counted anyway.

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