Thread by @Civics4GrownUps

Got a couple of questions about the 2020 census, so here are the basics:/1

The Constitution requires that every ten years, there is a census of all persons in the United States. /2

It says, in Article I, section 2, that the Representatives in the House will be apportioned among the states "according to
their respective Numbers, which shall be
determined by .../3

adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to
Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made ...within every subsequent Term of ten Years" as Congress directs by law./4

So every ten years, the US Census bureau, in the Department of Commerce, has to count the people (including free persons, indentured servants, and slaves) (:( ) according to the law prescribed by Congress.

This count includes both citizens and non-citizen residents. /5

An actual count of more than 300 million people is a logistical feat of the highest order. It requires planning, organization, and funding/6

The census bureau has been planning for 2020 for years: census.gov/2020census /7

In 2010, only about 70% of people in the US participated in the census: census.gov/censusexplorer…
/8

The count is used first and foremost to reapportion the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. It is important to everyone that the census is conducted in an impartial and professional manner. /end