With about half of Connecticut counted, the Commerce Department said Monday it will seek congressional authorization to delay the completion of the 2020 Census due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department will be seeking authorization to extend the deadline for self-response and field data collection to Oct. 31. The deadline for giving states the data needed to redraw the lines for congressional and state legislative districts would be delayed by four months until July 31, 2021.
As of Sunday, 49.1% of Connecticut residents had responded to the census, with most filling out the survey on line. The U.S. response rate was 48.1%. Originally, census takers were to finish visits to non-responsive homes by Aug. 14, with apportionment counts delivered to the president and Congress in December. The new deadline for those apportionment counts would be April 30.
Connecticut has a bipartisan redistricting process. Ten years ago, the panel deadlocked on revisions to the district maps, putting the task in the hands of a court-appointed special master.