August 19, 2020 3: 15 a.m.

Governor Kate Brown has joined a bipartisan group of governors from several states in calling for the deadline for the 2020 Census be restored back to its original date of October 31st.

A release said the group is asking U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Junior and the U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham Ph.D. to make the change. The U.S. Census Bureau recently moved up the deadline for the response and data collection period by an entire month, to September 30th.

Brown said the newly adjust deadline for response “…makes us especially concerned that our key partners will not be able to do the outreach necessary to reach Tribal communities, immigrant and refugee communities, communities of color, and rural communities”.

Brown said those communities are already being disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and “,,,not providing them enough time to complete their 2020 Census would be denying them valuable resources needed for their recovery from this crisis”. Brown said nearly 1.3 million people are considered hard to count, and officials have been working over the last 20 months with partners across the state and across sectors “…to ensure a fair, accurate and complete count for Oregon”.