A March report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted the decennial census as one of five high-risk areas “requiring significant attention” that have regressed since 2019.
“The Census Bureau implemented new technologies and other innovations for the 2020 Census,” GAO noted, “but also made a series of late design changes, such as delaying operations in response to COVID-19, that put the quality of the census at risk.”
GAO determined that census leadership commitments, program capacity, the census action plan, monitoring, and demonstrated progress, were all “partially met.”
The report warned that, “in planning for 2030, the Bureau will not fully understand the quality of the data collected for 2020 until it completes all of its planned evaluations.”