U.S. census data collection set to conclude next week

    While the data collection for the 2020 U.S. Census was to conclude Sept. 30, a preliminary injunction, if approved, could extend that gathering of information another month.
    Census workers  have been out in Imperial in attempts to reach those who had not responded previously by mail, phone or online.
    Tyler Pribbeno, Imperial’s Community  Development Director, continues to encourage local residents to fill out the census questionnaire, or give the information to local workers now going door-to-door.
    He said local workers are in town “knocking on doors.”
    City officials have been encouraging people to answer the census if they have not done so yet.
    “We have been trying to reach out through different avenues via social media and groups like the chamber,” Pribbeno said.
    One of the local census-takers is Jan Elliot of Imperial. In addition to local contacts, she has been to Benkelman, Haigler, Parks, Culbertson and Beverly, she said.
    She reports everyone she has come in contact with has been very good in providing information.
    Early this week, the state of Nebraska had 96.5% of its households counted. That includes those who responded themselves, or who have been counted in the follow-up personal visits.
    Imperial has a 57% self-response rate (by mail, phone, online), while Chase County was at 58.1%.
    Overall figures are higher when the personal follow-up numbers are added, but those were unavailable.
    Conducting a census is mandated by the U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 2, and the U.S. has counted its population every 10 years since 1790.
    Census results help determine how billions of dollars in federal funding flow into states and communities each year.
    The results also determine how many seats in Congress each state gets.
    According to news reports, a coalition of groups and local governments, led by the National Urban League, are challenging the Sept. 30 end to data collecting  and want a preliminary injunction or other order allowing counting to continue through Oct. 31.
    The cutoff date the administration publicized for several months had been Oct. 31, until changing it to Sept. 30 in early August.
    One analysis claims stopping the counting next week could affect the outcome of new congressional seats in California, Ohio and Idaho, with Florida and Montana possibly losing some.
    The U.S. Census Bureau is bound by law to protect and keep confidential the individual household answers. The law ensures that private information is never published and that answers given cannot be used against people by any government agency or court.

 

The Imperial Republican

308-882-4453 (Phone)

622 Broadway St

PO Box 727

Imperial, NE 69033