2020 Census set to exclude south Yuma county

Political leaders in South Yuma County are afraid that the 2020 U.S. Census will do a poor job in surveying all residents in San Luis, Arizona and several in Somerton .

The community of San Luis is made of over 30-thousand residents and could be affected by due to the fact that the people don’t mail delivering services and the zip codes for their P.O. boxes has recently changed.

” The post office does not deliver mail at home so that puts a strain on a system that is well-used by the census to get their surveys out, ” said Tony Reyes, Chairman of the Yuma County Board of Supervisors.

The census determines the level of assistance communities receive from the federal government from several agencies including the Department of Agriculture and the Urban Economic Development. All of those funds come to areas based on the population count.

Reyes said that both representatives from South county and the census department are being proactive to make residents more aware of the issue, even keeping in mind the 40 percent of residents in the city who don’t have internet access. That even the time of year the census is conducted plays a huge role.

” If it’s conducted in the summer the numbers are going to be lower because of the winter residents, those who travel and get out of town, ” said Reyes.

Current Mayor of San Luis, Gerardo Sanchez, said that officials have started an outreach efforts campaign that will cost nearly 25- thousand dollars.