Census Battle Update

The state of Ohio and the U.S. Census Bureau asks a judge to place on hold…their court fight over when data, used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts, will be released. As part of a settlement agreement, the Census Bureau promises to release the redistricting data…no later than Aug., 16th…which is the date it had previously picked for releasing the numbers in an older format. The bureau also agreed to provide Ohio with twice-monthly updates on its progress towards meeting that deadline. Ohio will drop its lawsuit against the statistical agency, once the redistricting data is released on that date. We reported, the state sued the Commerce Secretary after the Census Bureau said it would be unable to meet a legal deadline to release the redistricting data to the states by March 31st, because of delays caused by the pandemic.