Photo by Deb Gau Students returned to residence halls at Southwest Minnesota State University this fall, but the campus was looking a lot emptier in the spring of 2020, when SMSU switched to distance learning because of COVID-19.

MARSHALL — Census results released this summer showed the population of Marshall as down from 2010. But when city staff started digging into the numbers, something looked wrong, Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said.

This week, Byrnes told members of the Marshall City Council that the 2020 census may have undercounted students at Southwest Minnesota State University. The census was conducted in April when the university had switched to distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many students left campus.

“I think we need to look at how this number can be challenged,” Byrnes said.

The U.S. Census Bureau has a process that allows local governments to request a review of their census results under certain circumstances. But if Marshall challenges part of its census results, it will likely be a long process, Byrnes said this week.

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in August said Marshall’s population was 13,628 — a decrease of 52 people compared to the 2010 count.

“I think we were all disappointed,” Byrnes said of the census results. However, only one of Marshall’s three voting wards had lost population while the other two grew.

Byrnes shared population totals for each of Marshall’s three voting wards in the 2010 and 2020 census, along with the net numbers of housing units added to the city over the past 10 years. Census results said populations in Wards 2 and 3 both grew, with Ward 2 having 4,728 people in 2020, and Ward 3 having 4,784 people.

Ward 1, which includes the SMSU campus as well as areas of nearby housing where many students live off-campus, had a population of 4,116 — a decrease of close to 550 people from 2010, Byrnes said. What was also strange was that the overall number of housing units in Ward 1 actually grew a little over the past 10 years, he said.

“Something is wrong, and I think the obvious place to look at is Ward 1,” Byrnes said. When the census was taken, “(SMSU) students likely were not there.”

SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya said Thursday he agreed with Byrnes that university students may have been undercounted. When SMSU went to distance learning in the spring of 2020, almost all students living in the residence halls went home. In April, many students were in the process of leaving campus or leaving Marshall, he said.

“Around the time the census happened, we had close to 225 students in the residence halls,” Jayasuriya said. In a normal academic year, “The average number for us is about 600 students,” he said.

While Byrnes said he thought the city should look at challenging the Ward 1 census results, it also looks like Marshall will not need to change its voting districts after the census. The city’s population change was less than 10%, which means it will not be required to go through redistricting, he said.