Households in Kentucky that have received a 2010 Census questionnaire have until Friday, April 16 to complete and mail it back in the provided, postage-paid envelope. If the Friday deadline is missed, you likely will be visited by a door-to-door census taker in a nonresponse follow-up operation that begins May 1 and continues into July.
As of Thursday, 70 percent of households in Kentucky had mailed back their census form, matching the state’s mail participation rate in Census 2000. Kentucky joins three other states in the nation that have met or exceeded its Census 2000 mail participation rate: North Carolina South Carolina and Tennessee, all in the Charlotte census region. Nationally, 67 percent of households have returned their questionnaires as of Thursday.
“Kudos to Kentucky so far, but the push is still on,” said William W. Hatcher, regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau. “The easiest, most efficient and least costly way to ensure you are counted is to mail back your census questionnaire immediately.”
Hatcher noted some households might not have received a census form for a variety of reasons. For instance, people might live in an area where the forms weren’t deliverable, the address might be incomplete, the household might be part of a special census operation, or the residence might be a new construction or part of a new housing development.
“If you have not yet received the questionnaire, sit tight. A census taker will visit you sometime after April 30 to get the census information,” Hatcher said. ” Every phase of the census has the potential for problems, but we have subsequent operations designed to correct each problem and get the best count possible.”
Hatcher said the Census Bureau has a safety net to ensure everyone is included in the census.
You can get a Be Counted census form by visiting a Be Counted or Questionnaire Assistance Center. To find a Be Counted site near you, go to 2010census.gov and click “Need Help with Your Form?” For multi-language help in filling out your form, call toll-free 1-866-872-6868.
“Bottom line, we are constitutionally mandated to count everyone, once, in the right place and that’s what we plan to do,” Hatcher said. “It’s important for Kentucky and its communities.”
Decennial census results are used to determine the number of seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives, the shape of legislative and local government districts, and how $400 billion in federal funds is distributed annually to communities across America.
