Lujan Grisham wants to extend census deadline if Biden wins

With nearly half of N.M. residents in areas that are hard to reach, gov. fears undercount

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says that states may push for a special U.S. census enrollment period next year if President Donald Trump leaves the White House.

The comments came at a recent meeting of the governor’s advisory council on racial injustice. A new council meeting was scheduled Wednesday by videoconference and past meetings have been made available online.

“Should there be a change in the White House, I would expect that the National Governors Association asks the Biden White House to have a special census enrollment period, like re-enrollment period, like they do for Medicare when things don’t quite work out right,” said Lujan Grisham, an executive committee member at the association.

A federal judge is weighing whether the 2020 census count will end early on Sept. 30 or continue through the original Oct. 31 deadline. A coalition of cities and civil rights groups argues that ending the census early will lead to an inaccurate count that overlooks minority communities.

About 41 percent of New Mexico residents live in hard-to-count areas — the largest proportion of any state in the nation, an Associated Press analysis of government data found.

Lujan Grisham said her office has received complaints that census trackers are confirming participation and not seeking out unregistered households.

“They have no interest in doing it right, it is a shameful trick in my estimation by the current administration to undercount states, particularly ... poor states, Democratic states,” Lujan Grisham said.