Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz announced today that Connecticut continues to lead the country as one of the best-counted states with a total enumeration rate — the self-response rate plus those enumerated during nonresponse follow-up – of 99.9 percent.

In September, a federal judge ruled that counting efforts must continue until the end of October as inaccuracies produced from a shortened schedule would impact the distribution of federal funding and political representation. Following the federal judge’s ruling, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced a target date of Oct. 5, 2020 to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations.

“Shortening the constitutionally mandated count of every person living in the U.S. will threaten the accuracy of population numbers used to determine the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funding and political representation for the next 10 years. Since the enumeration process was delayed by the pandemic, many Census takers did not start until Aug. 11. We need more time, not less to count every household. That’s why it’s so critical that households respond now,” said Lt. Governor Bysiewicz.

Last week, the federal judge issued an order to clarify that, for now, the U.S. Census Bureau must continue counting for the 2020 Census through Oct. 31. The U.S. Census Bureau has now instructed employees to continue with data collection and field operations until the end of the month.

“The Census helps to determine federal funding for our healthcare centers, school breakfast and lunch programs, childcare and so much more. For so many families, particularly those in our urban core, if they don’t have access to these life-saving programs, they could go hungry. If a family does not have access to childcare, that means they will have difficulty working a full-time job. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Lt. Governor Bysiewicz.

More than 70 percent of the total number of counted Connecticut households self-responded to the 2020 U.S. Census by phone, online or mail. Connecticut’s 2020 self-response rate exceeds the state’s 2010 self-response rate of 69.5 percent.

The 2020 Census is open for self-response online at 2020Census.gov, over the phone by calling 844-330-2020 (English) or 844-468-2020 (Spanish), and by paper through the mail.

The U.S. Census Bureau is also providing the Internet Self-Response Instrument and Census Questionnaire Assistance in 12 non-English languages; enumerator instrument, bilingual paper questionnaire, bilingual mailing, and field enumeration materials in Spanish; and language guides, language glossaries, and language identification card in 59 non-English languages.

Residents who do not have their unique 12-digit number can still complete the Census online or by phone at 2020Census.gov.