Latino leaders work to prevent immigrant undercount
Census questions reflect history
Coming Monday
How the Census could change the way we vote and for whom we vote.
Coming Tuesday
How you can tell the person at your door is really an employee from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Key dates to remember:
Fall 2008: Recruitment began for local census jobs for early census operations.
Spring 2009: Census employees went door-to-door to update address list nationwide.
Fall 2009: Recruitment began for census takers needed for peak workload in 2010.
March 2010: Census forms are mailed or delivered to households.
April 2010: National Census Day—use this day as a point of reference for sending your completed forms back in the mail.
April-July 2010: Census takers visit households that did not return a form by mail.
December 2010: By law, the U.S. Census Bureau delivers population information to the President for apportionment.
March 2011: By law, the census bureau completes delivery of redistricting data to states.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Why is there a census?
The U.S. census is a requirement of the United States Constitution. Article I, Section 2 requires a full enumeration of the population as a way to set the apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Article I, Section 2 says, “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.”
This language called for each free person to be counted as 1 and each slave to be counted as three-fifths.
The 13th Amendment freed the slaves, and the 14th Amendment removed the three-fifths requirement, instead saying “the whole number of all persons in each state” should be counted.
Keep an eye out for a delivery from the U.S. Census.
Census questionnaires are in the mail and should reach most homes by March 15.
Edward Davis, partnership coordinator for the Atlanta Region, said the U.S. Census Bureau is making extra efforts this year, including an advance letter, to try to increase participation in the 2010 census count.
If people do not mail and return questionnaires, the census must continue to make costly efforts to get all U.S. residents counted.
“By Constitutional law, we must come to your home to enumerate you,” Davis said. “That is not an option.”
According to Manuel Landivar, assistant regional census manager in the Atlanta area, it costs the Census Bureau $85 to $90 million for every 1 percent who don’t respond.
“That’s a huge amount of money that we spend in personnel and resources when we go and chase the forms that are not returned,” he said.
Phillippa Lewis Moss, co-chairwoman of Hall County’s Complete Count Committee, said she and co-chairman Bill Lightfoot of Brenau University have been working for the past seven months to publicize the census. They hope their efforts will boost participation in 2010.
In the 2000 census, only 66 percent of Hall County residents completed and returned their questionnaires.
“That’s not a particularly good showing,” Moss said. “Surely Hall County can do better.”
Better participation will mean more funding for services like education, hospitals and senior centers.
Nikki Young, Hall County’s public information officer, said the census is about much more than collecting data.
“Every household in Hall County accounts for about $13,000 in federal funding,” Young said. “It adds up a lot over a decade.”
Moss is also the director of the Gainesville-Hall County Community Service Center, which houses programs such as Hall Area Transit and Meals on Wheels, which are directly linked to federal grants. She said an accurate count will make a real impact on how well those programs serve the community.
“If we have an increase in population, we get more dollars,” Moss said. “No ifs ands or buts.”
Surrounding counties had much better participation in the 2000 census.
Forsyth County had a 72 percent return rate and 74 percent of Gwinnett County residents returned their census surveys.
“Gwinnett and other counties have reaped the benefits,” Moss said. “In Hall County, we basically threw away $29 million.”
Population also affects political representation. A shift in a state’s population can lead to additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Georgia got a congressional seat the last (census in 2000),” Davis said.
A major change for the 2010 census questionnaire is its simplicity. A number of questions that were included in past census surveys were scrapped in an effort to boost participation.
“One of the drawbacks to getting the form back was they took a long time,” Davis said. “Now it’s 10 minutes, 10 questions.”
The 10 questions on this year’s census survey are very basic and include name, age, race and sex.
Despite the many efforts of local governments and the Complete Count Committee, there are still three main obstacles to full participation: lack of knowledge, illiteracy and fear.
“We have a significant population that is challenged in reading and writing and therefore may ignore the census form,” Moss said.
There are two main fears that may keep Hall County residents participating in the census.
Many in the area’s large Latino population are worried that the census is tied to immigration and could lead to deportation if they are not legal residents.
“Census will go to all houses regardless of legal status,” Moss said.
Some are wary that the government is intruding into people’s personal lives.
“There are also those that believe completing the census is a nod to the federal government,” Moss said.
“This project has been around since 1790. It doesn’t have anything to do with who’s in office.”
But Moss said the committee has been working with churches and civic and community groups in an effort to reach as many people in Hall County as possible.
“We’ve had some very fascinating interactions with people,” Moss said. “There’s not a single element of our population that we can take for granted.”