NEW: The Census Bureau is ending #2020Census door knocking in some parts of the U.S. even earlier than expected -- on Sept. 18 in San Diego area, possibly within next 2 weeks in Minneapolis area -- and that may further hurt public confidence in the count.
npr.org/2020/09/01/908…
npr.org/2020/09/01/908…
2. ICYMI, a month ago I broke the story that the Census Bureau had decided to cut #2020Census door knocking a month short nationwide in order to end on Sept. 30 instead of Oct. 31, the extended end date the bureau had said it needed bc of COVID-19:
3. Today, the Census Bureau told me that in some areas, #2020Census door knocking "will finish earlier than September 30 - based on the rates of completion, self-response rates and the number of hours our available workforce can work." 
4. "It's not unusual for the door-knocking operation to end before the scheduled end date for the entire operation. That happens in every census," Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former staff director of the House oversight subcommittee for the census, tells me.
But...
But...
5. Terri Ann Lowenthal, who now consults on census issues, also tells me: "I remain quite concerned about the completeness of the data collection during this phase because there has been so much displacement of people and households due to the pandemic."
6. Households can still self-respond to #2020Census at My2020Census.gov through 9/30.
But ending door knocking early increases the risk of undercounting people of color, immigrants & other historically undercounted groups who are not likely to do the census on their own.
But ending door knocking early increases the risk of undercounting people of color, immigrants & other historically undercounted groups who are not likely to do the census on their own.
7. The @uscensusbureau's public information office has not responded to @NPR's questions about which areas besides San Diego are ending door knocking before Sept. 30.
@uscensusbureau @NPR 8. The @uscensusbureau's public information office has also not responded to @NPR's questions about what criteria the bureau is using to determine when its door knockers have "finished" their work in an area.
@uscensusbureau @NPR 9. The San Diego area census office still has about a third of its door-knocking work to finish in just over 2 weeks. "This gives me pause as to why the Census Bureau believes it can enumerate the remaining households accurately in less time than it has allowed," Lowenthal says.
@uscensusbureau @NPR 10. "I think it is premature to set an artificial early end date for the operation in San Diego, which could suggest to enumerators that they need to move through their caseloads more quickly than they otherwise would," Lowenthal says.
@uscensusbureau @NPR 11. Meanwhile, there are 2 federal lawsuits racing to get a court ruling that would force the Census Bureau to extend counting through Oct. 31 as it had planned in response to COVID-19. This latest filing in the Maryland suit tipped me off about San Diego:
@uscensusbureau @NPR 12. Here are the questions I'm still waiting for the @uscensusbureau to answer ("NRFU" stands for nonresponse followup, AKA the door-knocking operation, and "CFS area" stands for census field supervisor area, which is how the bureau divides up its door-knocking work):
@uscensusbureau @NPR 13. UPDATE: @uscensusbureau has a new entry on its "Fighting Rumors" webpage saying door knockers will "follow up nationwide" & certain "areas are on track to complete their nonresponse follow up workload earlier than the Sept. 30 end date." I have Qs...
2020census.gov/en/news-events…
2020census.gov/en/news-events…
