With the census deadline here, groups scramble to reach hard-to-count areas

With the 2020 census on the eve of ending, the U.S. Census Bureau reports nearly everyone in the state has responded. Still, organizations focused on counting hardto-reach areas have raised concerns over the quality of the data collected by the federal agency.

According to the Census Bureau, 99.9 percent of California housing units have responded to its questions. The Bakersfield Area Census Office, which includes much of Kern County and several outlying areas, is reporting a 99.8 percent completion rate for households.

With today being the last day to respond to the census, the Census Bureau expressed confidence in its work.

“It’s a great place to be,” Census Bureau spokesperson Donald Bendz said in a phone interview. “We would love for every single person to self respond, or for every single person to cooperate with a census taker, but at 99.9 percent completed, that’s a great place to be.”

But some say the numbers are not all they appear to be, and with a recently bumped-up deadline, the time to reach households in difficult areas has shrunk.

Originally meant to end in July, the coronavirus pandemic extended the response deadline several times, with the final extension falling on Oct. 31. However, a Tuesday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Census Bureau to move the deadline up.

The Bureau will now accept responses until 11:59 p.m., Hawaiian Standard Time, today.

Cindy Quezada, a senior program officer at Sierra Health Foundation, which has overseen census outreach programs, says the new deadline makes it more difficult for census takers to get the highest quality data from areas that are historically hard to count.

“I’m not feeling good about it ending tomorrow,” she said

Wednesday. “We could have used the extra time for sure.”

She said that while overall response rates are hovering close to 100 percent, the “most accurate” data collected by the bureau is a different story.

According to Census Bureau statistics, 64.2 percent of Kern County residents “self responded,” which means they filled out a census form online, over the phone, or sent one in through the mail. This data provides the clearest picture of who lives in a community, according to Quezada. If a household fails to self-respond, she added the bureau can resort to potentially less accurate methods of acquiring information.

Since August, census takers have been canvassing households, visiting locations up to six times to try to convince residents to fill out the forms.

If a household refused to respond to the census, or could not be reached, census workers ask neighbors for information about the residence. If even that fails, the bureau can use existing data to fill in missing information.

“That data is not accurate,” she added. “Because do you know information on your neighbors? I don’t.”

Administrative data, too, can be faulty, she contended.

As of Tuesday, the self-response rate in Kern County was 1 percent lower than it was in 2010, and some of the most underserved areas in Kern have far lower self-response rates. Lost Hills is reporting a 35.5 percent self-response rate and census tracts in east Bakersfield are reporting in the mid-40s, according to Quezada.

She added that she would have liked to use the remaining two weeks to bump Kern County’s self-response rate to match 2010’s.

“We’re trying to milk every minute possible,” she said. “There is a lot of activity. I’m sure working after hours for sure, or longer hours. We can sleep on the weekend.”

But with a hard deadline about to arrive, there’s only so much the organization can do.

Once finished, the Census Bureau is required to present its findings to the president by Dec. 31.

“At this point,” Bendz said, “anyone who hasn’t responded, we would encourage them to step up and perform their civic duty for their community.”