{
  "status": "Primary source identity and release review complete",
  "sources": [
    {
      "topic": "2014 ACS release",
      "date": "2015-12-03",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/data-releases/2014/release-schedule.html",
      "finding": "2014 five-year estimates precede the 2016 forecast."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2016 ACS release",
      "date": "2017-12-07",
      "url": "https://cdn.www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2017/acs-5-year.html",
      "finding": "2016 five-year estimates precede the 2018 forecast."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2018 ACS release",
      "date": "2019-12-19",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/acs-5-year.html",
      "finding": "2018 five-year estimates precede the 2020 forecast."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2020 ACS release",
      "date": "2022-03-17",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/acs-5-year-estimates.html",
      "finding": "Delayed five-year release precedes the 2022 forecast. No cancelled standard 2020 one-year estimate is used."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2022 ACS release",
      "date": "2023-12-07",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/acs-5year/2022.html",
      "finding": "2022 five-year estimates precede the 2024 forecast."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2024 ACS release",
      "date": "2026-01-29",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/data-releases/2024/release-schedule.html",
      "finding": "Delayed five-year release precedes October 2026. Original December 2025 schedule is not used."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2016 map identity",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/congressional-districts.115th_Congress.html",
      "finding": "Census lists FL, MN, NC, VA changes for the 2016 election. All four require education reallocation, including the minor Minnesota changes."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2018 map identity",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/congressional-districts.116th_Congress.html",
      "finding": "Census lists CO, MN, PA changes for the 2018 election. All three require education reallocation."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2020 North Carolina map",
      "date": "2019-11-15",
      "url": "https://ncleg.gov/Redistricting",
      "finding": "HB1029, Session Law 2019-249, is the 2019 congressional map used in 2020 and uses 2010 Census blocks. Use the official block file and 2010 population, not future 2020 counts."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2022 map identity",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/congressional-districts.118th_Congress.html",
      "finding": "118th Congress is the 2022 election map. Later Census product publication does not make its ACS observations pre-election inputs; use pre-cutoff 2020 ACS tracts and known map boundaries."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2024 map identity",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/congressional-districts.119th_Congress.html",
      "finding": "Census lists AL, GA, LA, NC, NY changes for the 2024 election, matching the positive-population crosswalk."
    },
    {
      "topic": "2026 map identity and Missouri correction",
      "date": "2026-10-07",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/congressional-districts.html",
      "finding": "Census lists nine changed states: AL CA FL LA NC OH TN TX UT. Missouri November 2026 uses its 2022/2024 map after the September 23 Supreme Court decision; regenerated BEFs posted October 7. An earlier MCDC ten-state lead is superseded."
    },
    {
      "topic": "County code bridges",
      "url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/technical-documentation/county-changes.2010.html",
      "finding": "Chugach/Copper River split from Valdez-Cordova, and Kusilvak/Oglala Lakota renames allow explicit historic parent-class inheritance without guessing an urbanicity value."
    }
  ],
  "reconstruction": "Current population crosswalks reconstruct historical election maps using population already released before each forecast. This is not a claim that these exact tabulations or every later technical boundary correction had an archived pre-cutoff release.",
  "nchs": "Original 2013 county urban-rural file documentation gives April 28, 2014 release and six categories. County labels are intentionally fixed across cycles."
}