Editorial - Stand up and be counted; fill out census

Talk about it

It’s time to stand up and be counted – and not fall prey to conspiracy theories that attempt to cast the census in a distrustful light.

Census forms have arrived – or will be arriving soon – in the mail of Douglas County residents.

Sadly, some people will skip it.

A survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 12 percent of U.S. residents said they weren’t sure if they would fill out their census form and 6 percent said that it was unlikely, or that they definitely would not return the form.

The main reason respondents gave for not returning the form was that they were just too busy, not interested or uninformed.

About 25 percent of the respondents, however, gave a darker reason, saying they didn’t trust the government.

“Some myths are floating around that are leading people to believe that the census is inconvenient or unsafe, but the opposite is true,” said Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Minnesota and North Dakota. “Not only has the Census Bureau made safety and ease a priority, it’s also in the public’s best interest to respond to the census because it will help the individual’s voice be heard.”

In order to dispel some myths surrounding the census, the BBB offers up five reasons why everyone should participate:

•It’s safe. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with anyone, including the IRS, FBI, CIA, INS or any other government agency. All Census Bureau employees take the oath of nondisclosure and are sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of the data. The penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

•It’s easy. The mail-in census form is only 10 questions long and, for many households, won’t take longer than 10 minutes to answer. If you don’t return the form, you’ll be visited at your home by a census taker at least three times. Avoid the hassle and just fill out the form.

•It allocates money and resources to help you. The information the census collects helps determine how more than $400 billion of annual federal funding is spent on infrastructure and services that go to benefit the public including hospitals, job training centers, schools, bridges and roads.

•It saves you money. For every 1 percent increase in mail response, the government – and ultimately taxpayers – save $80 to $90 million.

•It helps your voice be heard. Redistricting is the process of changing electoral districts and constituency boundaries, usually in response to periodic census results. Census information affects the number of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives.

For more advice on filling out your census form and identifying a census employee, visit www.2010census.gov.

Tags: opinion, editorials, census