Why Native Americans don’t share the government’s optimism about the census

In this April 30, 2020, photo, a sign marks Navajo Drive as Sentinel Mesa, homes and other structures in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah on the Navajo Reservation, stand in the distance. Even before the pandemic, people living in rural communities and on reservations were among the toughest groups to count in the 2020 census. (Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Isaiah Murtaugh

— Nov 02, 2020

The Census Bureau has touted the non-response follow-up (NRFU) rate as evidence of a good census count. As of Oct. 16, on American Indian and Alaska Native lands, that rate was 99.8%. But advocates are worried the metric belies rushed field operations and severe undercounts in tribal areas.

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U.S. News & World Report

This article is part of a reporting effort by The GroundTruth Project on voting rights in America, with support from the Jesse and Betsy Fink Charitable Fund, Solutions Journalism Network and MacArthur Foundation.