Walz Helps Launch Year-Long Awareness Drive for 2020 Census

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has helped kick off a year-long drive to try to ensure that all Minnesota residents are counted in the 2020 census.

The Democratic governor told a rally in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday that a fair democracy depends on everyone being counted. The stakes are high, as they were in 2010, because Minnesota is once again on the bubble for losing one of its eight seats in the U.S. House.

Walz praised the work of a partnership of civil groups behind the "We Count" campaign, which is organizing to create awareness of the census and to encourage everyone to participate in the count, which begins April 1, 2020.

Much of the focus is on historically undercounted groups, including renters, children, immigrants, people of color and low-income households.