Census Reporting Ends For Montana, County

Census reporting in Montana officially ended Thursday, Oct. 15, t0 accommodate a lawsuit featuring advocacy groups against President Trump’s administration in a federal appeals court.

At the end of the process, federal officials reported that 99.9 percent of Montana residents were considered counted. Of that amount, more than 60 percent responded by choice. The 99.9 rate means an attempt was made to gain information from every household, including those where there was not an answer.

Totals appear to be lower in eastern Montana. For example, one report had only 61 percent counted in Sidney and 54 percent counted in all of Richland County near the end of September.

Montana’s numbers improved with a heavy concentrated effort during the first two weeks of October.

A final, strong push occurred on Tuesday, Oct. 13, when the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes permitted workers to reach 500 households that hadn’t been previously counted.

“From what you’ve been hearing, it really went up,” Carla Hunsley of Missouri River Country said. “It’s really important.”

Census figures help establish planning and funding for infrastructure including programs for highways, Section 8 housing, community development and rural water systems.

In addition, Montana was hoping that an increased in population shown through the Census would result in a second U.S. representative position for the state. Montana lost its second Congressional seat in 1990.

The spread of COVID has created a challenge for filing an actual Census count in Montana.

“With the COVID starting, it made things more difficult,” Hunsley said. “It’s been a challenging year for everything.”