Sunday Reflection: Counting Heads

Exactly 230 years ago today, the first Census of the United States was initiated. Article 1 of the Constitution mandates that a "counting the whole number of persons in each State" be made to determine the number of Representatives to Congress and other needs. Enslaved Americans were counted as three-fifths of a "whole person" for purposes of representation in Congress. Since then, the Census has been taken to gather information on American households in order to determine Federal resource allocation, assist in defining Congressional districts, and many other uses.

The COVID-19 / Trump Virus has made this year's Census more challenging, with the data mostly being collected by surveys through the mail. An already stretched Postal Service, struggling under financial strictures placed on it by Republican legislators and administrations, has yet another burden in addition to the upcoming election, where mail-in ballots will surge.  In addition, there's been an effort by Republicans to see that minorities and immigrants expected to support Democrats are undercounted, and now the Census Bureau is ceasing the count as of September 30 -- a month earlier than originally planned. Another big reason why Federal and state elections count, as if another one were needed.