Gov. Ducey must show leadership in urging Census extension
18th Sep 2020
As a member of the AZ FACT Coalition (Arizonans for Fair and Accurate Census Tally), CPLC Action Fund is calling on Governor Doug Ducey to show leadership by urging President Donald Trump to extend the Census count to its previously scheduled Oct. 31 deadline. With the new deadline just days away, an undercount is all but guaranteed, which makes us wonder if that is the very intention. So far, Governor Ducey has refused to accept his duty and obligation as the state's CEO and do what's best for Arizona by using his influence with the president to attempt to change course. As a result, Arizona could lose $1 billion or more in federal funding over the next decade (details in open letter below).
CPLC Action Fund is urging you to let the governor know your support for calling for an extension of the Census counting.
To send an online comment to the governor’s office, click here. The governor’s office also can be reached by email at engage@az.gov ; by phone at 602-542-4331 (Phoenix) or 520-628-6580 (Tucson); and by mail at 1700 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007.
For Census information in English and Spanish provided by CPLC, click here. Information also is available at AZCensus2020.gov , where there is a link to complete the Census online. You may also respond to the Census survey by phone, by calling 1-844-330-2020.
CPLC Action Fund signed onto the (updated) letter below:
Governor Doug Ducey:
We reach out to you as concerned Arizonans. Arizona could lose $1 billion or more in federal funding over the next decade unless the abbreviated and accelerated Census deadline for counting people in our state is extended to October 31, a date that was changed by the Trump administration to September 30. As of Sept. 16, Arizona ranks 43rd in total response rates. Without an extension, the U.S. Census Bureau will not have the necessary time to count all Arizonans in what is always a challenging task that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few weeks ago, President Trump named you as Co-chair of the Council of Governors. The Council provides a forum to the governors serving on it to discuss with the Trump administration issues impacting states and the federal government. In your position in the Council, we ask that you use your platform to garner the support of other states and formally request the Census deadline revert to the original extension date. Although COVID-19 cases have been declining in the state, on September 3rd, an uptick of cases and deaths due to the virus was reported by the AZ Department of Health Services. The virus continues to spread and as you very well know, no American or Arizonan, is immune from its reach. During the pandemic, there is no legitimate rationale for the since-accelerated deadline and literally billions of reasons to return to the established October 31 date.
The pandemic has made it impossible to get an accurate count that will result in an undercount that will plague Arizona for the next 10 years and beyond. The data gathered from the Census informs, influences and impacts the every-day lives of Arizonans. Some examples of how the Census informs funding include:
The Census count also is used to determine population-based representation in Congress in terms of the number of each state’s delegates to the U.S. House of Representatives. Arizona is one of the nation's fastest=growing states, but that fact might not be acknowledged because almost twenty percent of Arizona households have yet to be counted.
Governor Ducey you recently authorized an additional $600,000 for grassroots and media outreach to encourage Arizonans to respond to the Census. Unfortunately, money alone cannot guarantee a complete count. In order to ensure that we count every person in Arizona, as mandated by the U.S. Constitution, we need time in addition to resources. The extra month can afford us our fair share of the $675 billion allotted to states annually as a result of the decennial Census. The deadline must be extended to October 31 to give Census workers additional time to collect the requisite data.
According to the U.S. Census: “It’s estimated that up to $3,000 per person, per year is at stake for every Arizonan. That is more than $20 billion dollars annually that helps support Arizona’s communities. In fact, for every Arizonan who does not respond to the census, the state stands to lose $887 in federal funding. Just a 1% undercount would represent a loss to the state of $62 million per year for a decade, for a total loss of $620 million.”
With a 88.9% enumerated response rate, we are well beyond a 1% undercount. Especially missing as respondants are rural Arizona, the tribal nations and the Latino community, which also has been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19 both medically and economically. The pandemic has only exacerbated the challenges in combatting an undercount.
Many people in the Latino community are still fearful the Census questionnaire will inquire about their immigration status, which was an early and widely publicized threat by the Trump administration before being overruled by the courts. The Latino community has stepped up its efforts to get more Latinos to respond to the Census. The Governor’s Office maintains it is doing all it can to counter the undercount, including setting up stands in front of Food City grocery stores to get more Latinos to participate in the Census. Such an effort, however, won’t even begin to make a dent in Arizona’s almost-certain undercount.
The date can be changed. In fact, four former Census directors urged the Trump Administration to delay the deadline to respond to the Census until April 2021. The emphatically declared, “having helped to plan, execute or lead five decennial censuses serving nine Presidents of both parties, our expert opinion is that failing to extend the deadlines to April 30, 2021 will result in seriously incomplete enumerations in many areas across our country." A bold move is in order.
An incomplete Census count will harm our state for at least the next decade. The impact of an undercount in the 2020 Census will hinder the state's ability to plan and prepare for a strong economy going forward. We respectfully urge you to take a bold leadership position and request an extension for the Census so that we can achieve a complete count. Time is of the essence. Arizona's future is in the balance.