After a months-long dispute between the Trump administration and federal courts, the U.S. Census will now stop its count overnight Thursday, October 15.
Mailed responses must be postmarked on October 15, and phone responses end at 1:00 a.m. on October 16. Because of time zone shifts, the last moment an Alabamian can turn in their Census response online is 5:00 a.m. on October 16.
The dispute between the courts and the Trump administration has meant that several other dates — most recently October 31 — had previously been announced as the end of Census counting, but a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday means the October 15 ending date is now set in stone.
As Yellowhammer News reported on Monday, Alabama has joined the ranks of states that reached 99.9% of the total estimated response after more than a month of lagging the rest of the nation.
Every bit of Census response remains crucial, however, and every public official in the state of both major political parties has urged the public to fill out their Census forms.
Those who have not yet responded can fill out the form online here or call 844-330-2020.
Spanish speakers can call 844-468-2020.
The Census is required by the U.S. Constitution and counts all persons living in the United States every 10 years. The population totals determine how many Electoral College votes a state gets in presidential election years, the number of seats a state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives and the amount of funding a state gets from the federal government.
Alabama is said to be one of the most likely states to lose a seat in the U.S. House, which would hurt the state financially and mean Alabama has less importance on the national stage.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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