2020 census numbers messed up in some areas

[butters]

while the census bureau is looking to initiate new ways of counting prison and college community residency, smaller towns are seeing published population numbers for their areas that seem entirely wrong and are afraid it will impact their financial situations dramatically. Seems a lot of the issues are down to covid getting in the way of reliable tallies.

An analysis by the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, a nonprofit agency that provides planning help to communities in the region, said half of the county's census blocks had incorrect housing counts. Although the 2020 census put the number of homes at 13,535, it should have been 15,286, according to the analysis.

“We are concerned about long-term impacts, not qualifying for grants, not getting as many dollars as we need for our schools, those kinds of opportunities that come when the census count is used," said John Sell, director of White County’s community and economic development.

Both Glennville and Chester are home to state prisons, which became among the most difficult places to count — along with college dorms, nursing homes and military barracks — as the coronavirus spread throughout the U.S. during crucial weeks for the census in the spring of 2020. Students were sent home from campuses, and prisons and nursing homes went into lockdowns when those residents were supposed to be counted.Other communities have signaled they plan to challenge their census numbers, including several college towns and the cities of Boston and Detroit.

In the case of Chester, about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah, the 2020 census said it had only 525 people, which would mark a 67% decline in the population over the decade if it were true. The 2019 American Community Survey pegged the majority-Black town's population at 2,102 residents, and city officials believe it has a minimum of 1,500 inhabitants.

it'll be interesting to see how the revised numbers look

they have to take into account the whole prison/dorms thing, this idea that there might have been instances where rural areas where not canvassed at all, and factor in the numbers who have left for 'better' areas or even died from covid infections. Seems a lot of the areas in question had very high covid rates. Not saying this hasn't already been taken into account, but sometimes people might not believe their community has shrunk as much as it has, either.

“Unlike many areas of the country, Georgia was seeing extremely high cases of COVID-19," Feldman said in an email. “Unlike the metro areas where population is dense, door-to-door census counters may not have gone to harder to reach areas of rural counties."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/w...-lead-census-appeals/ar-AAT2o5q?ocid=msedgntp

poor areas are frequently the sites of prison populations, since wealthier towns and cities rarely want a sprawling, ugly prison complex on their land that can be more attractively built on with expensive housing, golf courses, malls....

 

[KeithD]

Another purposeful activity of the coup-attempting Trump administration to fuck up the United States.

 

[pecksniff]

while the census bureau is looking to initiate new ways of counting prison and college community residency . . .

You'd think that would be easy -- the administration always knows exactly how many inmates or students it has.

 

[jaF0]

Whoa, that’s not right’: Georgia towns lead census appeals
By MIKE SCHNEIDER today

When officials in Chester, Georgia, heard that the 2020 census had pegged their small town at 525 people, their jaws dropped. They believed the town was almost triple that size and feared an inaccurate number could force them to make budget cuts.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavi...-census-2020-3fc3ef87b47cbe81cb15a19469841387


There were a lot of stories back then about The Don neutering the process, in part to affect redistricting.

 

[butters]

also has me wondering how many 'census' forms were posted out for filling in at home.... my own m-i-l received one that had on it somewhere, out of the way, in the tiniest print that it was from a trump-related campaign. When i looked it up online at the time, it wasn't any official census form but something this campaign would use to target addresses and affect strategies. They were collecting information that would not be passed on to the census people.

My point is, how many (especially elderly) filled and returned those forms then didn't do the same with the official census one when it arrived, thinking they'd already given that information?

 

[Lazaran]

also has me wondering how many 'census' forms were posted out for filling in at home.... my own m-i-l received one that had on it somewhere, out of the way, in the tiniest print that it was from a trump-related campaign. When i looked it up online at the time, it wasn't any official census form but something this campaign would use to target addresses and affect strategies. They were collecting information that would not be passed on to the census people.

My point is, how many (especially elderly) filled and returned those forms then didn't do the same with the official census one when it arrived, thinking they'd already given that information?

That ^ is a very good point. I remember those "census" forms.

The lingering effects of Covid-45 will be with us for a loooooong time.

Long Covid indeed.

SAD!!!

 

[pecksniff]

Whoa, that’s not right’: Georgia towns lead census appeals
By MIKE SCHNEIDER today

When officials in Chester, Georgia, heard that the 2020 census had pegged their small town at 525 people, their jaws dropped. They believed the town was almost triple that size and feared an inaccurate number could force them to make budget cuts.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavi...-census-2020-3fc3ef87b47cbe81cb15a19469841387


There were a lot of stories back then about The Don neutering the process, in part to affect redistricting.

You'd think he would want to inflate the count in Georgia.

 

[butters]

You'd think he would want to inflate the count in Georgia.

not in some of the areas predominantly populated by Americans of colour or of a high Dem demographic, and pretty sure his admin wasn't any too interested in keeping prison standards high in those same areas, either.

the confusion covid wreaked may have been the biggest contributor, but it looks like there were all sorts of other threads involved in the blanket

 

[JohnnySavage]

Census forms are one of those many polls/surveys/canvasses/ect.. that I lie my ass off when filling out. The Constitution requires that the government count the people. It imposes no burden on me.