Thread by @hansilowang

SCOOP: About 97,000 troops usually stationed in the U.S. were deployed abroad on Census Day, @NPR has learned. Their numbers could give states with military bases or ports the population boost needed to keep or gain House seats and Electoral College votes
npr.org/2021/04/23/989…

2. How troops serving overseas on Census Day (4/1) are included in counts used for reallocating House seats, Electoral College votes is complicated. Starting in 1970 (but not in 1980), they were assigned to states of home addresses troops gave when 1st enlisted ("home of record")

3. I reported back in 2018 that the Census Bureau decided to change how it counts the deployed troops who are usually stationed in the U.S. For the 2020 census, those troops were counted as residents of the areas from which they were assigned away.
npr.org/2018/02/08/584…

4. This little-known change in counting deployed service members could tip the balance in favor of states with military bases or ports when House seats and Electoral College votes are reassigned based on the 1st 2020 census results. As Rebecca Tippett of @ncdemography told me...

5. But it's important to keep in mind: bc of COVID-19 and Trump admin's last-minute schedule changes, the 2020 census was like no other U.S. count. The uncertainty of the impact of the deployed troop counts makes this group a potential "wildcard," Terri Ann Lowenthal says.

6. How this change to how deployed troops are counted affected the reallocation of House seats and Electoral College votes is not expected to be immediately clear after the Census Bureau releases the first 2020 census results next week.

6. The bureau's planning to put out a state-by-state count of all military employees serving outside the U.S. (as it did in 2010 - www2.census.gov/programs-surve…).

But the bureau tells NPR the new data table won't separate out the deployed troops who are usually stationed in the U.S.