Thread by @hansilowang

The U.S. gov't is going to ask you some personal questions in 2020.

Tuesday is your last chance to submit feedback on those questions here: regulations.gov/docket?D=USBC-….

But before you do, here's a thread on the major changes with the #2020census Qs 👇

npr.org/2018/03/29/598…

2. You've probably been hearing a lot about the new citizenship question. Here's how it's worded and some background on why it's sparked six lawsuits 👇 apps.npr.org/documents/docu…

3. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees #2020census, approved adding citizenship Q. Ross has said Justice Department "initiated" request for Q. But internal emails & memos make clear Ross pushed his staff to add Q months before DOJ's request 👇
npr.org/2018/07/30/632…

4. Census Bureau's chief scientist has warned against adding citizenship Q. He said there's another way of getting citizenship data for enforcing Voting Rights Act's Section 2 that will cost less and produce more accurate data than adding Q: apps.npr.org/documents/docu…

5. Still, don't sleep on these other #2020census question changes...

6. To answer the #2020census race question, marking off "White" and/or "Black or African Am." won't be enough. White and black people will be asked to write in their non-Hispanic origins -- "German," "Irish," "African American," "Jamaican," etc.

7. npr.org/2018/03/13/593…

8. npr.org/2018/02/01/582…

9. One major change you WON'T see on the #2020census race question is a combined race/ethnicity question, which Census Bureau researchers say could produce more accurate race/ethnicity data and better reflect how people in the U.S. identify themselves 👇

10. But that combined race/ethnicity Q isn't happening because it requires a change to fed standards on race/ethnicity data that White House's Office of Management & Budget controls. White House has been silent on Obama-era proposals to change standards 👇
npr.org/2018/01/26/580…

11. Among those proposals that White House has been silent about is to stop allowing federal surveys to use "Negro" to describe the "black" category when collecting race data 👇 npr.org/2017/12/13/568…

12. The term "Negro" won't appear on the #2020census though

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/985570394605318146

13. Another major change is to the question about a person's relationship to the householder. For the #2020census, couples will be able to choose between "opposite-sex" and "same-sex" categories 👇

14. npr.org/2018/03/30/598…

15. Here's the @uscensusbureau's report to Congress on all of the #2020census questions: apps.npr.org/documents/docu…

@uscensusbureau 16. A warning about page 11 of the above PDF: the Census Bureau's footnote about when it's asked about citizenship status before is misleading. The last time it asked all U.S. households about citizenship was for the 1950 census 👇 npr.org/2018/05/17/612…

@uscensusbureau 17. The deadline for public comments on the #2020census is Tuesday, 8/7, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern: regulations.gov/docket?D=USBC-…