The Census Bureau will seek a four-month delay

The Census Bureau said Monday that it would ask Congress for a four-month delay in delivering the population data used to reapportion the House of Representatives and political districts nationwide. Deadlines for the population count are set in Title 13 of the U.S. Code and require an act of Congress to change. The delay results from difficulties with door-to-door and community outreach due to the covid19 pandemic. The efforts had already been rushed by litigation over the inclusion of a citizenship question on the census in fall 2019. 

In a news release, the bureau said their requested deadline would mean that state legislatures would get final figures for drawing new district maps as late as July 31, 2021. Delivery of that data normally begins in February. The bureau also said it would extend the deadline for collecting census data, now Aug. 15, to Oct. 31, and would begin reopening its field offices — which have been shuttered since mid-March — sometime after June 1.

This timeline could throw a wrench into redistricting plans in many states. New Jersey and Virginia are set to redraw legislative districts next year before their filing deadlines for elections in 2021, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

During a press briefing at the White House on Monday, however, President Trump said: “I don’t know that you even have to ask them. This is called an act of God. This is called a situation that has to be. They have to give it. I think 120 days isn’t nearly enough.”

More reporting from the New York Times and NPR.