- [Narrator] As a global health emergency is taking hold,

America is moving forward

with its crucial once-a-decade census.

In March, the Census Bureau said an employee tested positive

for the new coronavirus.

The worker didn't have contact with the public,

but the incident is reinforcing the bureau's need

to collect information over the internet.

This isn't the bureau's only challenge

as it collects surveys.

The 2020 census has been on

the Government Accountability Office's watch list

for three years.

Those concerns, combined with pandemic-driven impediments,

could make 2020's count more difficult to execute,

but the count must move forward

because it is a foundational part of American governance.

- The census is very important

because it is the foundation of how political power

is distributed in this country.

And so, it's important to be counted,

and it's not just that people be included

but be included where they reside

so that political power can be equitably distributed

or accurately distributed.

- [Narrator] Here's how the new dynamics

are reshaping 2020's count.

This year, most households received a letter

rather than a complete census form in the mail.

- This is the first census in which there'll be

a widespread option to respond over the internet.

- [Narrator] That's because the census

wanted to move toward online response.

In light of the new coronavirus,

the bureau's reemphasizing the need to respond online

or by phone or by mail

without having to meet a census-taker.

This is the safest way to answer the census,

and that could prove crucial as the country hunkers down

to increase social distance

and limit the spread of the virus.

Online response will limit the amount

of in-person enumeration needed to count everyone,

which relates to another major challenge

facing 2020's census: staffing.

Staffing has been an ongoing area of concern

at the Census Bureau.

That problem becomes most visible at the local level.

- One of the things that's very important

is to look at the census down at almost a granular level,

a very local level.

That's what's gonna make or break the census.

- [Narrator] Only about two-thirds of the country

responded to the initial prompt for the 2010 census,

and those numbers vary at the local level.

For example, about 74% of Minnesotans

responded to the census's first request,

but some counties in the state had response rates below 40%.

Lower response rates mean that the Census Bureau

needs to send temporary workers to knock on doors

and request responses in person.

But the need to increase social distance

will make it harder to send field workers out

to track hard-to-reach populations

and others who don't respond.

For months, the Census Bureau struggled

to recruit enough temporary workers.

The GAO issued this chart in February

to show how far behind the bureau had fallen.

The Census Bureau disputed those findings,

saying that they effectively met their staffing goals,

but the bureau will still have to deal with

falling response rates.

That's because Americans in general

have become less likely to answer surveys.

- Each census that I've been involved with,

the bureau assumes a lower mail response rate

than they received in the preceding census,

in part because of just the complexity of counting people

in various living arrangements,

but in part because of reduction in trust.

- [Narrator] Which brings us to a third major challenge

facing 2020's census: trust.

In 2019, the Republican National Committee

sent a 2020 Congressional District Census

to a number of households.

It was not an official census.

The document asks about political preferences

and preferred news sources,

none of which are asked on the official census.

The questionnaire was also much longer

than the official census and asked respondents

to donate money to process the document.

As recently as March, the Trump campaign

promoted the misleading prompt on Facebook.

Facebook later removed the ads,

citing the company's census interference policy.

But experts say that the lingering effects

of confusing documents like this

could further depress response rates in the country.

Census forms started arriving in mailboxes in mid-March.

The bureau must report results to Congress

no later than December of 2020.

Some response timetables could be shaken up

as the bureau monitors the situation

and takes new guidance from public health authorities.

(soft ambient music)