That 2000 Census form laying on your desk among the unopened bills and junk mail may be far more important to politicians and government bureaucrats than it is to you. But they’d like for you to fill it out anyway.

Decades of declining voter registration and turnout have shown Americans’ distrust, anger or apathy, when it comes to government. And the first-ever Census commercials and ad campaigns apparently may not stem the tide this time.

For the first time, the Census Bureau is putting each local community’s response rates, updated daily, on the Internet at http://rates.census.gov and so far, the results are not encouraging. Through Wednesday, 46 percent of the Census forms had been returned nationwide. Oregon was faring a bit better, at 50 percent, but none of Central Oregon’s counties had hit that mark. Bend leads the region with 53 percent of Census forms returned, followed by Redmond at 52 percent, the same figure as Portland. (The figures reflect forms received and scanned in at the regional center in Pomona, Calif., as of two days ago.)

A decade ago, only 65 percent, less than two-thirds, of the Census forms were returned, down from 75 percent in 1980. This time, the Census Bureau fears the number will drop to 61 percent or lower. That means a bigger door-to-door effort to count the uncounted – but likely also means a larger number of people missed by the massive program.

“This will occur not because the Census Bureau does not want to or is not able to count, but because people in this country do not care about or want to be counted,” said Census Director Kenneth Prewitt.

One reason lots of people may be waiting is the wording on the front page of both the short and long Census forms, asking how many people “were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2000,” the official Census Day – which, of course, has yet to arrive.

“I’ve had a couple of people say, ‘I’m not a prophet,’” said Delores Reynolds, manager of the local Census 2000 office in Redmond.

Reynolds said indeed, some people who are listed on forms mailed earlier may die before Saturday, but that likely would be offset by babies who are born before their due date. “So it works both ways,” she said.

The biggest issue Reynolds is dealing with in 18 counties east of the Cascades is people with post office boxes. Census forms are not delivered to PO boxes. “We want the count at the house,” she said. “Those folks didn’t get a Census form yet. What will happen to them is they will be picked up in our no-response followup” that is due to begin April 28th.

Actually, Census Bureau workers already hand-delivered thousands of forms to homes in some parts of Central Oregon, such as Sunriver, near Sisters and at Crooked River Ranch, where mail isn’t delivered directly to houses. They could knock and hand over the forms, if someone is home, or leave them hanging on the door – but they “never, ever touch somebody’s mailbox,” which only the mail carriers can do, Reynolds said.

People who haven’t received a form yet and don’t want to wait several weeks to be counted can call the Census Bureau at 1-800-471-9424 or even fill out a form online at http://www.census.gov , Reynolds said. Otherwise, she said, “They can wait for us and we will be there.” If a home’s form isn’t returned by the 10th of April, it will be on the list for an in-person visit, starting the 28th.

Big turnout effort may not reverse slide

The Census Bureau has enlisted the help of cities, counties, states and many others in a grassroots effort to try to top the last Census response rate by at least 5 percent. Deschutes County’s target is 72 percent, for example, while it’s 70 percent in Jefferson County and 69 percent in Crook County.

The agency has stressed that accurate Census data helps make sure communities get their fair share of billions of dollars for federal programs such as Head Start, road projects, senior assistance and the like. But Reynolds noted the “outside possibility” that the Census also could result in a sixth Oregonian in the U.S. House of Representatives, once congressional reapportionment is done.

Even though individual Census data is kept secret for 72 years, the once-a-decade head count brings anti-government venom from some people.

“We hear, ‘The government doesn’t need to know this, they know enough about me already’ — it’s like they think somebody cares,” Reynolds quipped.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2000 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.