LOS ANGELES – The Census Bureau will officially end all counting efforts for the 2020 Census on September 30, a month earlier than previously announced. Critics worry the last minute changes can threaten the accuracy of the US census, especially for hard to reach areas. 

The census questionnaires went out to all households, and if you haven’t answered, either by mail, online or by phone, census takers may now start showing up at your front door.

As of Wednesday, California’s response rate is 64.3%, slightly ahead of the national average of 63%. Cities like San Jose, San Diego, and Riverside are also above average at 71%, 69%, and 66%, respectively.

Other large cities, however, are falling behind. San Francisco is at 61%, Long Beach at 62%, and Los Angeles at just 52.9%.

On Thursday, L.A.’s percentage rose slightly to 53%, but still ten percentage points behind the national average.

Donald Bendz, a U.S. Census Bureau spokesperson said this discrepancy can be problematic.

“One thing we know about larger cities is the more diverse the city is, the chances of getting a lower response rate are higher,” Bendz said. “Because we have so many different, of what we call ‘hard-to-count communities.’ This could be people who are renters, people who don’t understand the importance of the census, or members of our immigrant communities who do not speak English. This could be a number of different factors that we have worked over the years to combat, and we feel that once we tell people the census is safe, easy, and important, it blankets the reason why people don’t fill out the form.”

Bendz said in order to reach low-response areas, like in Los Angeles, the bureau is hiring more census takers, but this close contact –with people coming directly to homes – raised concerns amid the pandemic. Bendz said their operation keeps the coronavirus in mind with new safety protocols.

“The health and safety of the American public is our top concern and all of our census takers will be going door-to-door, will be following the local health department guidelines,” he said. “They’re going to have PPE in the form of face masks and hand sanitizer, and this whole operation that we’re doing can be done with social distancing in mind. So, imagine someone knocks on your door and they’re able to then step away by more than six feet to conduct this interview in a matter that is safe."

This week, Democrats criticized the bureau for their announcement to accelerate data collection, and shorten the census deadline by a month. The deadline was originally extended to October due to the pandemic, and now is being pulled back to September. Critics said President Trump is rushing the census to gain a Republican advantage. But Bendz said the Census Bureau is moving the deadline up to meet their statutory deadline which comes at the end of the year.

“We’re confident that we’ll be able to get a completely accurate count once we start going door-to-door nationwide,” Bendz said.

Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham also faced criticism this week after he released a statement saying the Census Bureau is trying to meet President Trump’s executive order, which would calculate states’ congressional seats without taking undocumented immigrants into account. But without a citizenship question, and with six out of ten households who have already responded, it’s unclear how that would be possible.

Despite that, Bendz said, the bureau is focused on education and outreach. He said there’s no reason for anyone to hesitate when it comes to filling out the census. 

“Time is running out; we only have until the end of this operation,” he said. “And we need people who haven’t self-responded now to do so, because if they don’t, they’re hurting their community.”

The census is confidential by law and determines how to allocate federal dollars, as well as how many congressional seats each state receives. 

Bendz was unable to comment on the latest statement by the Census Bureau Director. Spectrum News 1 reached out to the Census Bureau headquarters for comment on how they plan to enforce President Trump’s Executive Order to exclude undocumented immigrants from determining the congressional seat count, but has not received a response to that request.