Down for the Count (Census)

[sonias]

Texas Tribune 3/29/10
Down for the Count

Texans have plenty at stake from an accurate and complete count by the U.S. Census Bureau, especially with the prospect of an extra four seats in Congress. If only more of us would go to the mailbox.

With national Census Day coming this week, Texas ranks near the bottom in the rate at which states' residents are returning the questionnaire mailed to 134 million homes two weeks ago. As of Friday, we rank several percentage points below the national rate — ahead of only Alabama, New York, Alaska, Georgia and Florida, according to data downloaded from the bureau's website on Friday.

The "mail participation rate," as it's known, is significant for census officials, who sent reminder postcards last week. The more people who respond by mail, the fewer workers the government must hire to walk door-to-door, gathering the basic information about residents' age, gender and ethnicity. In fact, if 100 percent of Americans mailed in the form, the bureau estimates it could save $1.5 billion.

So far, though, only about a quarter of Texans have returned their forms, which began arriving two weeks ago.

Oh boy, the looney teabag types are suppressing our census count. Hell Mississippi and Louisiana are doing better than Texas! :mad:

Get those census forms in Texans!

[Richardo]

1. Wellllll.

If Texas gets four more seats, and they're all going to go to Republicans, then let's just slow down and think about this. :think:


I kid. My Census form went in the day after I got it.

[sonias]

2. All of the seats should go to Hispanic/African American areas

And they tend to vote Democratic. I know you kid. :)

The only thing we have to worry about is how bad the Rs can gerrymander and get away with it. My prior thread on Redistricting Reality

I sent my form in too. I count!

[NoPasaran]

3. I finally sent mine in

But not until I got a whiny postcard from The Man about it. It's not April 1st yet, guys.

[sonias]

4. Everybody got a card from the man

I got one even after I sent mine in too.

Just a friendly reminder. It's cheaper to send a postcard than a person to knock on your door.

You think the wing nuts would rather not see a socialist census worker come to their door. If they could buy a clue they might just avoid the visit and send their forms in!

:hi:

[Melissa G]

5. My husband got to it before me.

I like to mark myself head of household since that question annoys me. :evilgrin: Not sure if the question is still there, since I did not get to fill out the form. Anyway, We count! :patriot:

[sonias]

6. Good for you!

Nope it doesn't ask that question. Just asks you to fill out name, gender, race, DOB. Whether you live in a house, apartment or mobile home and if you own or rent. That's all.

Here is a sample of the questions online:
2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php

Question #10 would prove complicated to someone like Governor Mark Sanford of S. Carolina
Does person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?

To be truthful he should obviously answer "yes". Perhaps at a seasonal or second residence. :evilgrin:

[Melissa G]

9. Oh, I imagine Michael Steele might be even more amusing...

How many temporary residents or residences might he be having on April Fool's day? Either question 1 or 10 might be interesting in his case. He stays LOTS of places and seems to be very fond of all sorts of company! :evilgrin:

[sonias]

11. Stocks and bonds

I'm sure it was a complete misunderstanding. They thought it was a "stocks and bonds" club. They were there to get some tips.:evilgrin:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Melissa G]

14. LOL!

:rofl:

[onestepforward]

7. Mine is completed and mailed!

:patriot:

[sonias]

8. Excellent!

:patriot: :hug: back at ya!

[tammywammy]

10. I filled it out, but keep forgetting to mail it back in

doh.

Will get it in the mail tomorrow.

[sonias]

12. Slacker!

But at least you have your homework done. All you gotta do now is turn it in.

:applause::thumbsup:

Are you college friends slacking too? I'm sure it's not a hot topic of conversation right?

[tammywammy]

13. I haven't asked around.

Mine's sitting at home. I need to throw it in my bag when I get home tonight then I'll mail it from work. :)

[kentauros]

15. I filled mine out and sent it in a few days after I got it.

The big, long and very information-intense form was the one for the American Community Survey, which I also received and sent in :)

[sonias]

16. Wow the ACS sounds interesting

Glad you took the time to fill it out!

:applause:

[kentauros]

17. It's eleven pages for the first person to fill out,

then an additional 17 pages if anyone else lives there, up to five persons total. Luckily, in my case, it's just me. I did make one mistake on the form where it asked about "public assistance or welfare from local or state sources" and then asked further down the page for income from unemployment compensation. I accidentally filled in the first one and had to cross it out, so I hope it was okay.

They actually sent me a second form, but one of their announcement letters had also stated that if you had already filled one out, to ignore any subsequent/duplicate forms. So I did ;)

[sonias]

18. 17 pages!

That was some work.

[kentauros]

19. No, I only needed to do the eleven pages.

Still, I had to do some calculating to figure out my income for last year since I was laid-off and then was getting UI. Overall, it only took about 30-40 minutes to fill out. Sure, far more than the census form, but not too bad. I would guess it would be well over an hour for a family of five to complete it ;)

[sonias]

20. Census Director "Concerned" About Texas

Texas Tribune 3/30/10
Census Director "Concerned" About Texas

Texans' lagging response to the U.S. census questionnaire is getting the attention of the higher-ups at the bureau.

Director Robert Groves issued a statement this morning urging Texans to mail in the forms so that temporary workers don't have to collect the information in person. For every percentage point increase in mail response, the bureau estimates it saves $85 million in taxpayer money.

"We're concerned about the relatively low response from parts of Texas," he said in a press release. "Every household that fails to send back their census form by mail must be visited by a census taker starting in May — at a significant taxpayer cost. The easiest and best way to be counted in the census is to fill out and return your form by mail."

The national response rate yesterday was 46 percent, while Texas remained 7 percentage points behind. Only one in four households in Brownsville, Groves noted, has responded. Others with low response rates include Brownsville (25%), Laredo (27%), Austin (33%), Houston (33%) and San Antonio (37%).

We are really slow this time, Texas. And it's only going to cost us in more ways than one.

:kick: up the count!

[sonias]

21. Counting the Counties

Texas Tribune 4/7/10
Counting the Counties

Texas continues to lag behind other states in its response U.S. Census mail questionnaire, but the rate varies widely by region, according to the latest figures.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the bureau had received responses from 56 percent of Texas households, compared with 62 percent of households that have responded nationally. But residents in more than two dozen Texas counties have been more responsive than both the state and national rates, according to the latest data, which you can explore using our interactive state map.

This is costing us big time! The interactive map feature is cool. Travis isn't even beating the average for Texas. We come in at 51%. That blows. Williamson County right next door is at least doing the state average of 56%, and Hayes another nearby county is at 55%.

:kick: