The Census Bureau's May 29, 2026, deadline for Block Boundary Suggestion Project submissions has come and gone. For local officials and GIS staff who were unaware of the program, were understaffed, or simply unable to get their state liaison engaged in time, the question now is a practical one: what can still be done, and how do you ensure the 2030 redistricting cycle goes as smoothly as possible from here? The answer is more encouraging than you might expect, but it requires moving quickly and strategically on several fronts. There is still one more BBSP opportunity, but only briefly The Census…

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…