• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. big picture>

Technology, cybersecurity concerns continue to dog 2020 Census

Bill Theobald
July 03, 2019
Technology, cybersecurity concerns continue to dog 2020 Census

Approximately 70 percent of the door-to-door work that was required to complete the census in the past is being moved to in-office canvassing that relies on technology.

Census Bureau

While the controversy over the proposed citizenship question has dominated most of the news coverage of the 2020 census, lingering concerns remain over a number of issues that will decide its success.

The concerns – expressed by members of Congress and contained in numerous reports by agency overseers and outside groups – focus mainly methodology, technology and cybersecurity.

Here is a look at each:


Changes to the census

If your image of the census is the indefatigable enumerator going door to door to ferret out all of the country's citizens, then you need a reset.

For the 2020 count, the Census Bureau plans to replace about 70 percent of the field work using in-office canvassing that relies on data from satellite imagery and other sources, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

The biggest change will be to encourage people to respond to the census using the Internet. Trying something this new requires testing but because of budget concerns, the bureau scaled back on its testing in 2017 and 2018, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

That lack of testing contributed to GAO's decision to place the census on a list of high-risk or potentially troublesome federal programs in 2017 and remains there for 2019.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Technology concerns

Completing the census is going to involve 52 new and existing systems, according to the GAO. Again, the primary concern is whether these systems will be properly tested in time for the start of the census. This may "increase the risk that systems will not function as intended," GAO officials testified during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in late April.

Cybersecurity worries

Russian hacking of U.S. election systems demonstrates the need to have security systems in place for government programs, including the census.

Still, the GAO found that as of this spring, the Census Bureau still needed to address more than 500 corrective actions related to security, including nearly 250 that were considered "high-risk" or "very high-risk."

Meanwhile, the inspector general for the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, concluded in a report just two weeks ago that the bureau's cloud-based IT systems "contained fundamental security deficiencies."

The IG report acknowledged that some of the issues were resolved even before the audit was completed, but showed that the Census Bureau did not use proper cloud security when conducting some of its testing, thereby placing data collected during those tests at "increased risk of potential misuse or loss."

And why is an accurate census important, anyway?

The census determines:

  • Which states gain or lose House seats.
  • How the U.S. House and state legislative districts are drawn within states.
  • How more than $675 billion in federal funds is doled out among states for health, education, transportation and other needs.
From Your Site Articles
  • For Latino officials, census concerns go beyond citizenship question ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • U.S. GAO - High Risk: 2020 Decennial Census ›
  • 2020 Census likely target of hacking, disinformation campaigns ... ›
  • 2020 Census Won't Have Citizenship Question as Trump ... ›
big picture

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

How a college freshman led the effort to honor titans of democracy reform

Jeremy Garson

Our poisonous age of absolutism

Jay Paterno

Re-imagining Title IX: An opportunity to flex our civic muscles

Lisa Kay Solomon

'Independent state legislature theory' is unconstitutional

Daniel O. Jamison

How afraid are we?

Debilyn Molineaux

Politicians certifying election results is risky and unnecessary

Kevin Johnson
latest News

How the anti-abortion movement shaped campaign finance law and paved the way for Trump

Amanda Becker, The 19th
10h

Podcast: Journalist and political junkie Ken Rudin

Our Staff
11h

A study in contrasts: Low-turnout runoffs vs. Alaska’s top-four, all-mail primary

David Meyers
23 June

Video: Team Democracy Urges Citizens to Sign SAFE Pledge

Our Staff
23 June

Podcast: Past, present, future

Our Staff
23 June

Video: America's vulnerable elections

Our Staff
22 June
Videos

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Bridge Alliance intern Sachi Bajaj speaks at the June 12 Civvy Awards.

How a college freshman led the effort to honor titans of democracy reform

Leadership
abortion law historian Mary Ziegler

How the anti-abortion movement shaped campaign finance law and paved the way for Trump

Campaign Finance
Podcast: Journalist and political junkie Ken Rudin

Podcast: Journalist and political junkie Ken Rudin

Media
Abortion rights and anti-abortion protestors at the Supreme Court

Our poisonous age of absolutism

Big Picture
Virginia primary voter

A study in contrasts: Low-turnout runoffs vs. Alaska’s top-four, all-mail primary

Video: Team Democracy Urges Citizens to Sign SAFE Pledge

Video: Team Democracy Urges Citizens to Sign SAFE Pledge

Voting