"Two years after census 2020, many cities and states say the count wildly underestimated their residents, costing them significant federal and state money for the social services and infrastructure their areas need. The numbers also have created confusion in drawing new voting districts, potentially leaving some areas with less political power than they should have in state legislatures and Congress," Tim Henderson reports for Stateline.

The issue disproportionately affects rural counties and communities that are already often at a disadvantage in drawing state and federal funding. The pandemic may have skewed response rates overall, and the digital divide left many rural areas at a disadvantage since 2020 was the first census to rely primarily on citizens filling out forms online. Plus, the bureau used a new statistical technique to keep data anonymous that may have hurt small-town counts. And finally, the Trump administration halted the count early, making it more difficult for hard-to-count rural areas to catch up.

"While the U.S. Census Bureau has created programs to fix the errors, many state and local officials say they are not sufficient," Henderson reports. "The bureau’s Count Question Resolution program allows tribal, state and local governments to ask the Census Bureau to review their counts for errors. It already has drawn complaints from 20 places in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin as well as Puerto Rico. It is accepting challenges through June 2023."

Read the full article about communities seeking census recounts by Heather Chapman at The Rural Blog.