TO THE EDITOR:

The Monroe Township League of Women Voters, along with hundreds of partner organizations across the country, is working to prepare American households for participation in the 2020 Census. The League’s Campaign Finance Reform Committee is sponsoring an information session on Wednesday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Monroe Public Library.

We invite our community to attend this special event which will feature speakers from the New York Regional Census Office and the NJ Institute For Social Justice who will explain how the Census will work, why it is important and how it will affect you.

The US Constitution mandates that a count of America’s population be made every decade—a decennial census. The census data collected is extremely important for many reasons. It is used to determine how many representatives each state gets in Congress.

Election district boundaries are drawn based on census counts. At the state and local levels, census data drives planning to meet residents needs for services like schools, emergency services and roads. Some federal funds, approximately $675 billion annually, are distributed to states based on census data.

An inaccurate or incomplete census may mean that the power of our vote in government is diminished. It may mean also that our communities do not receive the appropriate level of funding for necessary services.

Everyone must be counted!

Linda Ikeda, Chairperson,

Campaign Finance Reform Committee

League of Women Voters, Monroe Township