The BBSP Deadline Passed. Now What? A Guide for Local Officials

The BBSP Deadline Passed. Now What? A Guide for Local Officials

By EditorJul 18, 20260 Comments
The Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP) exists so that states can identify non-standard features often used as electoral boundaries (power lines, property lines, or streams) that could serve alongside more traditional features (such as street centerlines) as census tabulation block boundaries. States, through their official liaisons, may also identify features that are not desirable as block boundaries. In addition, legal boundaries reviewed in coordination with the annual Boundary and Annexation Survey also become census tabulation block boundaries. Where no suggestions are submitted, local precinct boundaries following features the Bureau does not already carry are unlikely to appear as census block…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , ,
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The Boundary Annexation Survey (BAS) Submission Checklist for Local Governments

The Boundary Annexation Survey (BAS) Submission Checklist for Local Governments

By EditorJul 14, 20260 Comments
The Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) is the Census Bureau's annual check-in with local government on where its legal boundaries actually are. Each year the Bureau contacts federally recognized American Indian areas, counties and county equivalents, incorporated places, and minor civil divisions, asking each to confirm that the Bureau has the correct boundary, name, and status for that government. The public and data users rely on the annual BAS boundaries as the official federal representation of boundaries for legal governments. The Census Bureau maintains this data in its MAF/TIGER System and publishes the results through the annual TIGER/Line release. For…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , ,
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Census Watchdog Flags Risks to the 2030 Count

Census Watchdog Flags Risks to the 2030 Count

By EditorJun 18, 2026
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns that the Census Bureau, having narrowed the scope of its 2026 Census Test, may finalize important parts of the 2030 count's design before it has evidence that those methods actually work. Released June 4, 2026, the report describes that the Bureau has reduced planned test sites from six to two and 19 planned operational activities to nine, leaving fewer opportunities to evaluate the new approaches the agency hopes to use at the end of the decade. These preparations matter far beyond the test itself, because the once-a-decade count determines…
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BBSP vs. BAS: Two Census Programs, Two Crucial Jobs

BBSP vs. BAS: Two Census Programs, Two Crucial Jobs

By EditorJun 04, 2026
The Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) and the Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP) are often conflated; both involve local geography and the Census Bureau, but they do different jobs. BAS is the Bureau's annual survey to keep the legal boundaries and names of governments current, such as city limits, county lines, township boundaries, and tribal areas. BBSP is a once-a-decade phase of the Redistricting Data Program in which a state suggests which features the Bureau should use as statistical census tabulation block (census block) boundaries. The other differences follow from that split. BAS runs every year, and each eligible government…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , , ,
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From 1990 to 2030: A Short History of the Census Block-Boundary Suggestion Project

From 1990 to 2030: A Short History of the Census Block-Boundary Suggestion Project

By EditorMay 22, 2026
The Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP) is now in its fourth decade. It began as part of the Census Bureau's first nationwide Redistricting Data Program for the 1990 Census, following a 1984 pilot test that yielded positive results, which led to its full implementation. While census blocks were first used in 1940, only for cities of 50,000 or more inhabitants and other governments that contracted for the work, they were first used nationwide in 1990. Along with the nationwide census block-numbering system, which gave states the small-area geography they needed to meet Voting Rights Act obligations and minimal-population-deviation districting standards, BBSP helped move redistricting…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , ,
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Why the 2030 Census LUCA Program Matters to Redistricting and GIS Staff

Why the 2030 Census LUCA Program Matters to Redistricting and GIS Staff

By EditorMay 16, 2026
Most redistricting discussions focus on the maps, who draws them, what criteria they must meet, and how they will hold up in court. But every redistricting map built from 2030 Census data will ultimately rest on a foundation that GIS and redistricting staff rarely talk about: the Census Bureau's residential address list. The Local Update of Census Addresses operation is the first to occur in every decennial census cycle, and it gives state, tribal, and local governments their only opportunity to directly help ensure an accurate enumeration by reviewing and submitting updates or corrections to the confidential address list before…
Census Data and Geography, Local Redistricting, , ,
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Five Census Bureau Tools Every Local Election Official Should Bookmark

Five Census Bureau Tools Every Local Election Official Should Bookmark

By EditorMay 15, 2026
The Census Bureau offers a growing suite of free, browser-based tools that are directly useful for local election administration and redistricting work, and most officials don't know they exist. All five tools are free, require no account or login, and are updated regularly with the latest ACS and decennial census data. QuickFacts: The first stop for any local official should be QuickFacts, which delivers instant demographic snapshots; population, age, race, income, housing, etc., for any county, city, or town in the country with no data expertise required. TigerWeb: Next is TIGERweb, the Census Bureau's interactive boundary map viewer. TIGERweb allows users to…
Census Data and Geography,
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Why the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Matters for Local Redistricting Officials

Why the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Matters for Local Redistricting Officials

By EditorDec 15, 2025
Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau invites tribal, state, and general-purpose local governments, counties, cities, towns, and minor civil divisions to verify that its legal-boundary file is still accurate. This verification program is the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). For local officials, keeping your boundaries current is not just cartographic housekeeping. BAS data feeds the American Community Survey, the Population Estimates Program, and the TIGER/Line layers that nearly all redistricting platforms rely on. Accurate boundary lines also protect your jurisdiction’s share of the roughly $2.8 trillion in annual federal funds that are allocated by geography. Who should participate and what’s…
Census Data and Geography, Local Redistricting, , ,
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New GOP Lawsuit Targets Differential Privacy and Group Quarters Imputation, Claiming Flawed 2020 Census Data

New GOP Lawsuit Targets Differential Privacy and Group Quarters Imputation, Claiming Flawed 2020 Census Data

By EditorOct 11, 2025
A federal lawsuit challenging the underlying data of the 2020 U.S. Census has been filed in a Florida federal court by two young Republican organizations. The plaintiffs in this case, with potential national implications, are the University of South Florida College Republicans and its President, Michael Fusella, individually, along with the Pinellas County Young Republicans and its President, Parisa Mousavi, individually. The addresses associated with these plaintiffs fall within Florida's 14th Congressional District (represented by a Democrat) and the 15th Congressional District (represented by a Republican). The suit names the federal officials responsible for the data collection as defendants: Howard…
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Census Bureau Dissolves Three Outside Advisory Panels for 2030 Planning and Redistricting

Census Bureau Dissolves Three Outside Advisory Panels for 2030 Planning and Redistricting

By EditorAug 14, 2025
The U.S. Census Bureau disbanded three advisory committees this past June: the Census Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC), the 2030 Census Advisory Committee, and the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. Members of these committees serve without pay (aside from travel reimbursement), a point reflected in CSAC’s charter and Federal Register notices. The 2030 advisory committee itself was created and filled less than a year earlier (23 members named in March 2024), underscoring how abruptly the change arrived. These panels review census design choices, methods, and communications plans during the decennial’s multi-year build-out. Census.gov’s pages describe the committees’…
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