Census analysis warns of ‘serious errors’ due to shortened schedule

A Census Bureau analysis is warning of potentially “serious errors” for the national headcount results due to a shortened schedule.

According to an internal bureau document obtained by the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the analysis cautions about “serious errors discovered in the data may not be fixed — due to lack of time to research and understand the root cause or to re-run and re-review one or multiple state files.”

The information comes as a bipartisan group of senators called for an extension of the census deadline earlier this month, citing concerns about obtaining an accurate headcount.

In July 2019, the Trump administration opted not to add a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census, leaving data collection about citizens and noncitizens to the Commerce Department.

Still, the move to speed up the Census Bureau’s timeline has limited the amount of available time to check data collected for the once-a-decade headcount.

Counting is slated to end Sept. 30 for data to be analyzed, leading numerous former officials for the bureau to worry about the accuracy of the numbers that affect redrawing political maps, funding distribution for public services and reapportioning seats in the House.

“Delivery of redistricting data products will be negatively impacted under this revised plan and we are determining full impacts,” the document cautions.

The analysis obtained by the House Oversight and Reform Committee was dated on Aug. 3 and marked “Not for Public Distribution.”

The Hill reached out to the Census Bureau’s public information office to inquire about the analysis but did not immediately receive a response.