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SPRINGFIELD — The loss of two congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal funding are only two of the problems facing Illinois if it cannot get all of its residents to respond to the 2020 census.

Although the official count does not start for another year, the federal government and state and local governments are ramping up their efforts to make the next census as accurate as possible.

Activists, lawmakers and community leaders around the state, meanwhile, are fighting to address all the factors that might contribute to an undercount.

The census

The federal census is conducted every 10 years to count population and demographics for every household in the U.S. The data is used to reapportion congressional seats and distribute more than $800 billion in funds for more than 300 federal programs, according to a study by the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.

In fiscal year 2016, for example, Illinois received more than $34.3 billion in federal funds for 55 federal spending programs guided directly by data from the 2010 census.