Once-a-decade census took place despite impediments
Pandemic-plagued 2020 had a formidable opponent to contest with this year: the U.S. Census.
To accommodate pandemic concerns, summertime civil unrest, severe weather and other extreme circumstances, census operations remained fluid throughout the year.
Operations had a normal start for the U.S. Census Bureau in the spring, when census workers began informing citizens about Census Day April 1.
Census Day kicked off the self-response phase of the count. This phase was originally slated to end with nonresponse follow-ups July 31.
In March, Gov. Tom Wolf encouraged the bureau to extend the July 31 deadline.
In a formal statement, Wolf said social distancing standards ran “counter to the Census Bureau's strategy of door-to-door enumeration for nonresponders.”
The bureau extended the nonresponse follow-up deadline and others several times during data collection.
Data collection concluded Oct. 15.
Despite difficult collection circumstances, response rates were high in many states and on par with 2010 data collection.
This is partly due to the fact citizens for the first time were able to respond to the census online as well as by phone and mail.
Butler County, where the Cranberry Township Area Census Office was located, boasted a self-response rate of about 76.2% Oct. 22. Of these responses, 62.4% were online.
In 2010, the county's self response rate was 73.8%.
The bureau is required by law to submit enumeration information to the U.S. president by Dec. 31.
In early December, the bureau recognized “data irregularities” that may skew the Dec. 31 deadline by several weeks.
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing Dec. 3 on the abnormalities, which are considered similar to issues that have occurred in past years.
The Dec. 31 timeline remains in flux while census workers continue data processing.
