Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) Profile picture
@NPR correspondent reporting on the U.S. election process, voting rights and census • email: hwang@npr.org • signal: 917-397-2639 • header: @connjie

Sep 17, 2020, 41 tweets

Day 1 of the last scheduled Census Scientific Advisory Committee meeting before the end of the #2020Census has started.

You can listen by calling 1-888-946-7616 (Passcode: 8708263).

2. Here's the slide deck by @uscensusbureau's Vincent Mule on how administrative records will be used for the #2020Census:
documentcloud.org/documents/7212…

@uscensusbureau 3. Here's the slide deck by @uscensusbureau's Timothy Kennell on the #2020Census post-enumeration survey for calculating undercounts:
documentcloud.org/documents/7212…

@uscensusbureau 4. Census Scientific Advisory Committee members want to know how the Census Bureau will maintain the scientific integrity of the #2020Census results given the time constraints, committee chair Allison Plyer says.

Transparency is "critical" to the bureau's reputation, Plyer adds.

@uscensusbureau 5. @uscensusbureau's Deputy Director @jarmin_ron said bureau's expecting "another hearing" today related to court order that's put a pause on the winding down of #2020Census field operations.

But the hearing that was scheduled for today has been canceled.

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 6. Earlier in the meeting, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham called in from Phoenix and said he's planning to be in Oklahoma later today.

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 7. There's a new kind of @uscensusbureau disclaimer for slide decks on #2020Census operational updates: the info in these slides "may not represent the official position of the Census Bureau" apparently (see slide 1 here: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7212… and here: www2.census.gov/cac/sac/meetin…)

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 8. "We're using a quality criteria of enumerating over 99% of the housing units in each state, which is similar to the enumeration levels in prior censuses," @uscensusbureau's Associate Dir. Al Fontenot said during Census Scientific Advisory Committee mtg.

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 9. Here's full quote from Al Fontenot: "Of course, our goal is to enumerate 100% of the housing units in the country. However, we're using a quality criteria of enumerating over 99% of the housing units in each state, which is similar to the enumeration levels in prior censuses."

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 10. "We have concerns" about finishing #2020Census counting by 9/30 given storms developing in Gulf of Mexico, @uscensusbureau's Al Fontenot said. "I can't really project whether Mother Nature is going to let us finish. We're going to do the best we can and see where we end up."

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron 11. @CommerceGov attorney Miles Ryan interrupted Q&A to say Census Bureau officials' comments aren't "necessarily official positions of the bureau or the Commerce Department in light of the fact that...a lot of the matters in terms of timing...are subject to ongoing litigation."

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron @CommerceGov 12. @uscensusbureau's newly-appointed Deputy Director for Data Benjamin Overholt is "not involved at this time" with the bureau's working group on #2020Census data quality, Assistant Director Deb Stempowski told CSAC member Mario Marazzi. More on Overholt:
npr.org/2020/08/17/903…

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron @CommerceGov 13. For some reason, the @uscensusbureau has not yet posted the slide deck of #2020Census updates from Associate Director Al Fontenot on its website yet (census.gov/about/cac/sac/…), so stand by for screenshots of what I could capture during the meeting...

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron @CommerceGov 22. (I didn't get screenshots of slides 10-11.)

@uscensusbureau @jarmin_ron @CommerceGov 41. Here's the PDF of Associate Director Al Fontenot and Assistant Director Michael Thieme's slide deck of #2020Census updates:
documentcloud.org/documents/7212…

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