Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled the Trump administration could not end the 2020 Census count one month early. Judge Lucy H. Koh issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Census Bureau to continue its count through October 31, the original deadline.
Last month the Census Bureau, at the direction of President Trump, moved up the Census response collection deadline an entire month earlier. This last-minute change could have significantly harmed historically undercounted and underfunded communities and resulted in an inaccurate Census count.
A complete and accurate count is vital to ensuring fair and equal representation and distribution of federal funding for the next decade.
Every State, Every Vote Co-Chair Oregon Gov. Kate Brown released the following statement:
“I applaud the Northern District of California’s decision to bar the Trump administration from sabotaging the Census results and ending the count prematurely. It’s a recognition that cutting the census short would undermine the integrity of the count and disproportionately impact communities of color, rural, immigrant, refugee, and tribal communities.
“The decennial Census is the foundation of our democracy and tells the story of who we are and where we are going as a nation. Attempts to erode the Census are attempts to crack apart the bedrock of American values. We need to ensure a fair, accurate, complete count. Every State, Every Vote remains committed to making sure that every American is counted and represented in the 2020 Census.”
Read more about how Democratic governors are fighting for an accurate Census count and fair representation for every community at EveryStateEveryVote.com.
