The Official 2020 Census Thread

[Tender Branson]

After a federal judge in NY ruled against the Citizenship question last month, another federal judge in Washington ruled in favour on Friday in a different case:

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/429278-judge-doesnt-accept-privacy-as-reason-to-immediately-block

[Tender Branson]

The US Supreme Court will decide tomorrow if they will fast-track the Citizenship question with a hearing and final ruling in April/May and therefore to bypass the several lower court rulings on this topic:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-census-court-20190214-story.html

[Tender Branson]

Other than the Citizenship question, there's also the fact that Millennials are extremely lazy people - which might contribute to an undercount as well:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/13/how-census-reach-urban-millennials-who-dont-use-mail-landlines/2861024002/

Democrats need to end their opposition to the Citizenship question and encourage (illegal) immigrants and Millennials to take part in the Census ... or they are doomed because of a bigger than usual undercount.

[Virginiá]

Other than the Citizenship question, there's also the fact that Millennials are extremely lazy people - which might contribute to an undercount as well:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/13/how-census-reach-urban-millennials-who-dont-use-mail-landlines/2861024002/

Democrats need to end their opposition to the Citizenship question and encourage (illegal) immigrants and Millennials to take part in the Census ... or they are doomed because of a bigger than usual undercount.

lmao free Amazon gift card. That seems so random.

How "busy" are their lives that they can't take ten minutes to fill out a form? If you can't spare at least that much time for an event that only takes place once every decade and is important to the country, then shame on you.

[Tender Branson]

Other than the Citizenship question, there's also the fact that Millennials are extremely lazy people - which might contribute to an undercount as well:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/13/how-census-reach-urban-millennials-who-dont-use-mail-landlines/2861024002/

Democrats need to end their opposition to the Citizenship question and encourage (illegal) immigrants and Millennials to take part in the Census ... or they are doomed because of a bigger than usual undercount.

lmao free Amazon gift card. That seems so random.

How "busy" are their lives that they can't take ten minutes to fill out a form? If you can't spare at least that much time for an event that only takes place once every decade and is important to the country, then shame on you.

Yeah ... 10 minutes every 10 years.

How hard is that ? The CB needs to conduct a massive campaign of awareness ahead of the actual Census operation and maybe even take up the "free gift" idea to bring on board the young people to avoid a big undercount or failure. But that of course shouldn't be necessary, if the young people would have some sense of civic responsibility left ... and it would cost too much of course.

[Virginiá]

tbf, abandoning civic responsibility is nothing new to America. The fact that we barely push those kinds of studies in school is an example of that. Most states' HS civics requirements are woefully inadequate.

I don't know who thought this was a good idea.

[Tender Branson]

Supreme Court agrees to rule quickly on citizenship question on census

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-agrees-quickly-rule-citizenship-question-census-n971561

[Tender Branson]

I'm sceptical.

The 2020 Census will be the first to allow every 250 million or so adult American to fill out their Census form online.

This will happen over a time span of 1 or 2 weeks in April 2020.

Do you remember when just a a few million people wanted to sign up for "Obamacare" at the same time and the servers crashed ?

So, what about 250 million Americans filling it out online at the same time ?

Well, not all of them will (about 60-75% will do so), but that's still a massive data load for just 2 weeks.

This has all the potential for disaster. Privacy not so much, because the Census Bureau has a very sophisticated method to avoid cyber attacks (and double or multiple entries).

On the other hand, the online component is certainly a good thing (especially for the lazy millennials).

What do you think ?

https://www.wired.com/story/us-census-2020-goes-digital

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/census-urban-millennials-genz_b_5c6445dde4b0368f7b6b4c17

[Tender Branson]

The Challenge of America's First Online Census:

https://www.wired.com/story/us-census-2020-goes-digital

[Hammy]

The Census, like everything else Trump's had his hands on, will be an unmitigated disaster that will take decades to recover it's legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

[T'Chenka]

Republicans will build more tubes to grow the internet. Problem solved.

[Tender Branson]

Exclusive: Fearful of fake news blitz, U.S. Census enlists help of tech giants

(Reuters) - The U.S. Census Bureau has asked tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter to help it fend off “fake news” campaigns it fears could disrupt the upcoming 2020 count, according to Census officials and multiple sources briefed on the matter.

The push, the details of which have not been previously reported, follows warnings from data and cybersecurity experts dating back to 2016 that right-wing groups and foreign actors may borrow the “fake news” playbook from the last presidential election to dissuade immigrants from participating in the decennial count, the officials and sources told Reuters.

The sources, who asked not to be named, said evidence included increasing chatter on platforms like “4chan” by domestic and foreign networks keen to undermine the survey. The census, they said, is a powerful target because it shapes U.S. election districts and the allocation of more than $800 billion a year in federal spending.

Ron Jarmin, the Deputy Director of the Census Bureau, confirmed the bureau was anticipating disinformation campaigns, and was enlisting the help of big tech companies to fend off the threat.

“We expect that (the census) will be a target for those sorts of efforts in 2020,” he said.

Census Bureau officials have held multiple meetings with tech companies since 2017 to discuss ways they could help, including as recently as last week, Jarmin said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-census-fakenews-exclusive/exclusive-fearful-of-fake-news-blitz-us-census-enlists-help-of-tech-giants-idUSKCN1R812S

[Tender Branson]

The push, the details of which have not been previously reported, follows warnings from data and cybersecurity experts dating back to 2016 that right-wing groups and foreign actors may borrow the “fake news” playbook from the last presidential election to dissuade immigrants from participating in the decennial count, the officials and sources told Reuters.

I would also include certain leftist elements of the Democrats here, who want to discourage immigrants from taking part in the Census out of hatred for Trump and his plans to include a citizenship question (which of course would be totally legal and is included in a Census in most other countries) ...

[Tender Branson]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/435598-abrams-launches-nonprofit-ahead-of-2020-census

https://thehill.com/latino/436369-telemundo-launches-initiative-for-latinos-to-participate-in-elections-census

Good.

Instead of fearmongering, Democrats should follow the example of Abrams and Telemundo and encourage all minorities and the young people to take part in the Census. This would help them in the 2020 general election as well.

[Tender Branson]

The tough job of Census taker:

https://youtu.be/fbI1eJ_zAB8

[Tender Branson]

Exactly 1 year to go to the reference date (actual Census activities start way earlier).

[Tender Branson]

Some really good news from the Census operations planning:

Census Bureau Optimistic About Filling Jobs for 2020 Count

Despite tight labor market, Bureau received 232,000 qualified applicants for first batch of 50,000 jobs.

WASHINGTON—The Census Bureau said Monday that hundreds of thousands of people have applied for jobs conducting the 2020 count, easing fears that the tight labor market will impede its success.

More than a half-million temporary workers will be needed for the decennial census, making it one of the country’s largest hiring efforts. Finding enough workers was easy for the 2010 count, when the aftermath of the 2007-09 recession sent a flood of applicants to the bureau.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/census-optimistic-about-filling-jobs-for-2020-count-11554150569

Census director: 2020 count ‘on schedule, on budget, on message’

Just days after officially wrapping up the results of its 2018 field test, the Census Bureau has shifted its focus to scaling up operations to count more than 300 million people living in the United States next year.

Al Fontenot, associate director for decennial programs at the Census Bureau, said field test respondents in Providence County, Rhode Island successfully navigated the internet response site. In addition, call center staff managed to respond to over-the-phone requests for help and handled requests to fill out the questionnaire in a language other than English.

“The big takeaway from the 2018 census test is that all of our systems deployed and integrated effectively in our test. Real people were able to effectively use the technology in real-world conditions,” Fontenot said Monday at a press conference at the National Press Club.

Starting mid-March next year, households across the country will receive invitations in the mail to respond to the 2020 census online. People living in areas with low internet connectivity or those deemed less likely to use the internet will receive a paper questionnaire in their first mailing from the bureau.

Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham said the new response options “create new efficiencies, relieve burdens and reassure people that assistance is but a phone call away.”

“We currently are working to ensure that all our systems can scale up and perform effectively to handle the load of work that we expect for the 2020 census,” he said.

Michael Thieme, the assistant director for decennial census programs, systems and contracts, speaking last Thursday at a Census Scientific Advisory Committee meeting, said he expects up to 120,000 concurrent users will respond to the census online at any time. However, the bureau has built its IT architecture to handle up to 600,000 concurrent users, even though it remains unclear if the site will ever encounter that volume of traffic.

The decennial team is also working with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as private sector tech companies, to build the “most state-of-the-art protections” against cyber intrusions.

Tech innovations also extend to census enumerators, who will carry iPhones loaded with a custom app that automates casework assignments and optimizes daily routes for them. These innovations, Fontenot said, have made field test enumerators more than 50 percent more productive compared to 2010.

“We couldn’t be more excited, the reason being that we are on mission, on schedule, on budget, on message and on course to complete the biggest and best census,” Dillingham said.

In August, the bureau will begin in-field address canvassing operations. Tim Olson, the associate director for field operations, said the bureau has already received more than 230,000 applications to fill 50,000 field jobs. Later this fall, the bureau will seek an additional 2.3 million applicants to fill more than 500,000 temporary enumeration jobs.

However, through partnerships with state, local and tribal governments, the bureau has verified more than 106 million addresses.

The bureau will conduct a review of every address for the 2020 count, but it will also rely on its new Block Assessment Research and Classification Application (BARCA), which compares satellite imagery from 2009 and the present to track and review addresses.

The bureau aims to hire more than 1,500 partnerships specialists — more than double the volume it hired in 2010 — to enlist more than 300,000 organizations to serve as census partners.

“Many of you represent the trusted voices you are uniquely positioned to share, and reinforce a concise yet vital message: that the 2020 census is easy, secure and important,” Dillingham said.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization-month-2018/2019/04/census-director-2020-count-on-schedule-on-budget-on-message

[Tender Branson]

With 1 year to go, the Census Bureau has released a first information ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJz7ZfzAuM

“A year before the census is conducted, we are on track. We are confident that our early planning is going to pay off.”

— Steve Dillingham, director of the Census Bureau

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/03/one-year-out-census-bureau-on-track-for-2020-census.html

[Tender Branson]

The online Census version will have 7 new languages nex year, for a total of 13:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/03/us/us-census-languages-trnd/index.html

Some 60-70% of those who respond will do so via Internet, so this is good news.

The paper census forms that are mailed out will still only offer English and Spanish.

[Tender Branson]

Confidentiality:

[Tender Branson]

The Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against the inclusion of the citizenship question tomorrow, starting at 10am:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-22/trump-s-census-citizenship-query-faces-test-in-high-court-clash

A ruling will come within 2 months and the Census forms will be printed then.

[Yang2020]

NYT article came out. Seems conservative judges are united on this issue. Looking like the undemocratic and disgustingly racist citizenship question will be on the census after all. Yuck.

[Tender Branson]

The Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against the inclusion of the citizenship question tomorrow, starting at 10am:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-22/trump-s-census-citizenship-query-faces-test-in-high-court-clash

A ruling will come within 2 months and the Census forms will be printed then.

The SC is leaning in favour of allowing the Citizenship question, readying a 5-4 vote:

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/23/705210786/a-decade-of-implications-at-stake-supreme-court-hears-census-citizenship-questio?t=1556040650678

[Tender Branson]

NYT article came out. Seems conservative judges are united on this issue. Looking like the undemocratic and disgustingly racist citizenship question will be on the census after all. Yuck.

Non-citizens are not a „race“. Adding the question is legitimate of course.

[SnowLabrador]

Ugh. The Democrats are done if the citizenship question is allowed to stand.