{"id":17564,"date":"2021-03-23T22:48:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T22:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/23\/watchdog-routes-given-to-census-takers-were-often-confusing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:36:17","slug":"watchdog-routes-given-to-census-takers-were-often-confusing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2021\/03\/23\/watchdog-routes-given-to-census-takers-were-often-confusing\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog: Routes given to census takers were often confusing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 A new automated system designed to create efficient routes for census takers as they knocked on the doors of homes that hadn\u2019t responded to the 2020 census instead often sent them on journeys that made no sense and distributed cases unevenly among the workers, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The routes created by the system known as \u201cthe optimizer\u201d frustrated census takers with illogical assignments, sending them on confusing paths that may have slowed efforts to reach every uncounted household before the door-knocking phase ended last October, according to the report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked by GAO investigators, only 21.6 percent of area census office managers were satisfied with the accuracy and efficiency of how cases were assigned, according to the report, a broad review of what worked and didn\u2019t work during data collection for the release 2020 census. The report was released hours ahead of Senate testimony Tuesday by acting Census Bureau director Ron Jarmin.<\/p>\n\n\n\t