I have now participated in three Decennial Census efforts as an enumerator. 2000 and 2010, and now 2020. I worked in each of them for a couple of reasons:
1. The Census is one of the very few things the “feddle gummint” does that have a clear, unequivocal constitutional mandate, and as much as I gripe about the feds exceeding their constitutional limits, I do appreciate any of the few opportunities I have to support legitimate exercises of federal power.
2. In the first two, I got paid (admittedly not much) to simply add a bit of “side business” to a hobby of mine: driving the back roads of America’s Third World County™. 2020? Notsomuch.
This time, the whole thing was so very screwed up from the very beginning that every new screwup simply made the whole thing a real drag. You know the old saying, “Once is happenstance; twiceis coincidence; three times is enemy action”? Yeh, that. *sigh* I thought at first, as the “training” began, “Oh, this is just incompetence.” But then as “training” continued and continued to worsen I started to wonder how the actual field work might go. I mean, after all, there were a few mapping problems in 2000 and 2010, but surely the GPS positioning and such like used by the mapping crews that supposedly worked in 2019 and who had their work checked in the update operation at the beginning of 2020 would make things better there? Right?
No. Mapping problems from 2000 that had been corrected for the 2010 Census were inexplicably re-introduced in 2020, and naturally even more were introduced, to the point that roughly half of the work was just saying, “THERE IS NO SUCH ADDRESS, NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN THERE. EVER!” or variations on that theme. And then new things like retail businesses that have been in existence for 30-40 years listed as housing units (NEVER have been, and were not so listed in previous censuses). Housing units listed with THREE DIFFERENT ADDRESSES, at least one of which was physically impossible. And more, much, much more.
And then there were things like specific instructions via updates to handheld devices (iPhones with software provided by an obvious low bidder) issued for all interviews, reporting, etc., instructions to do such and so that when followed led back to management wusses who had no clue whatsoever how to perform their part of the instructions.
Cases dropped when reported. Reporting devices (yes, I asked other enumerators) frequently “borked,” even losing a days’ worth of work. Obscurantist case reporting parameters within the software that worked. . . inconsistently. Re-re-re-re-interviews of cases already completed, reported, submitted, and accepted.
It goes on. And on. And on.
It is almost as though a conspiracy of dunces set out to sabotage the entire effort. Well, that and apparently blatant fraud, especially on the part of the mapping operations. (NO ONE could honestly have “mapped” some of the locations listed. Period.)
Ad so the Census asked a federal judge to extend the deadline for submitting data. And the (Chicago area?) federal judge acquiesced. Thankfully, the SCOTUS has said, “Fugetaboutit,” and shut the thing down. Could not have happened to a better bureaucrappic monster, IMO.