Orange County hopes for 2020 census payoff

Bigger numbers, more political power and federal highway funds

Planning is underway for the 2020 census in Orange County, which stands to reap bigger financial benefits from the updated nationwide head count, conducted every 10 years.

Early projections estimate that the county’s official population will top 1.3 million people, up about 300,000 residents from the final 2010 tally.

Census data is a key part of formulas, which determine political clout and federal financial aid. The numbers are used for redistricting governments at federal, state and local levels and for doling out federal transportation dollars, the latter of which means the Orlando-metropolitan area will likely be in line for a bigger slice of Uncle Sam’s money pie.

“The 2020 census is going to be very different from what we remember the census being in previous survey periods,” said

Williams, manager of Orange County’s Community and Family Services Department, who briefed county commissioners on Tuesday.

In years past, the primary method for collecting information from households was the U.S. Postal Service. People answered surveys mailed to them, then mailed the form back to the Census Bureau.

This time around, households will be asked to respond to census surveys online.

Williams said a troubling concern is providing Internet access for households that don’t own a computer or can’t afford internet service. Paid census-takers, sometimes called “enumerators,” will visit homes without internet access.

Williams said the plan is to equip census-takers with electronic tablets to gather data from residents they visit door-to-door.

But she characterized the in-person, door-to-door effort as a “last resort.”

Wiliams said census experts worry about so-called “HTC’s” — hard-to-count residents.

They tend to be poor, disabled or isolated by language. Many live in households where English is a second language. Some may be in the U.S. illegally.

Last month, a federal judge in New York ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate a citizenship question from the 2020 census survey.

The proposed question is this: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”

Critics of Trump claimed the query was intended to discriminate against Latinos, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans and other immigrants.

The government is appealing the ruling by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman.

Although citizenship status was a part of the censioner sus survey from 1850 to 1950, the government stopped collecting citizenship data in 1960.

In his ruling, the judge noted the Census Bureau’s official position through both Democratic and Republican administrations has been “such a [citizenship] question was inadvisable because it would depress the count for already ‘hard-to-count’ groups — particularly non-citizens and Hispanics — whose members would be less likely to participate for fear the data could be used against them or their loved ones.”

According to the agency’s website, “Federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities are based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race and other factors. Your community benefits the most when the census counts everyone. When you respond to the census, you help your community gets its fair share of the more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs.”

Some Orange County residents were reluctant to participate in the census 10 years ago until they learned the importance of being counted, said Edward “E.J.” Johnson, who worked parttime as a census-taker in 2010.

“Others don’t care,” said Johnson, who canvassed Metro West neighborhoods. “They don’t realize that, by not caring, that affects everyone.”

About 72 percent of all Orange County residents mailed in a Census questionnaire in 2010, slightly below the state’s response rate of 74 percent.

Nonetheless, higher population numbers helped Florida gain two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2010 U.S. Census. The state is projected to earn one more congressional seat after the 2020 count.

Orange County CommisLavon Betsy Vanderley, whose district includes the fast-growing neighborhoods of Horizon West in west Orange, emphasized the importance of an accurate count.

“Many of our transportation dollars for road improvements come from the federal government. If we under-count, we hamstring our ability to provide needed infrastructure ...” she said.