Officials Encourage Illinoisans To Fill Out The Census Before Deadline

From The Center Square:

By Zeta Cross

May 27, 2020

Illinoisans have been responding to the census and even with the complications because of the COVID-19 pandemic the state is on track with a 65% voluntary response rate.

Peoria City Councilman Sid Ruckriegel said organizers hope to get a 70 percent response rate before the Oct. 31 voluntary response deadline. A lot is at stake, he said.

“Federal funding for some of our housing, our support systems for our most vulnerable, and, of course, our representation both in Congress and also at the state level depend on an accurate count,” Ruckriegel said.

Things have changed since the 2010 census. In 2020, the majority of people are filling out the questions online, rather than mailing in their forms. Respondents also have the ability to call in their census answers and to talk with a census taker who speaks their language of choice.

The 2020 U.S. Census kicked off on April 1, with a robust response. However, in the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lag.

“COVID has given us some challenges,” Ruckriegel said.

Organizers had been relying on Illinois’ libraries, where people can get assistance and can use the free computers to answer their census questions, Ruckriegel said. Because of COVID-19, the libraries have been shut down. Organizers had also planned numerous outreach events at community gatherings and all those efforts have had to be canceled.

When people think of the census, they imagine an army of door-knockers, Ruckriegel said. Door knocking is a secondary effort to reach people who have not responded to the mailed invitations. Door-to-door efforts have been scaled back because of the pandemic. Organizers are using social media to reach out and remind people that Illinois needs them to respond to the census.

“We are looking at channels that may be seen by a lot of our diverse populations,” Ruckriegel said. “On buses, a lot of signs, billboards.”

People are really surprised when they find out that filling out the census only takes two minutes, he said. There are 10 questions. People who have concerns and want to see the questions beforehand can go online and see them, he said.

Some do not trust the confidentiality of the process, Ruckriegel said. The Census Bureau understands that trust issue. It has enlisted churches and grassroots organizations to help encourage people to fill out the census.

There is no census question about immigration status, Ruckriegel said.

“We want every person to understand that their filling out the census is done in a total, confidential way.”

Several key groups can easily get missed in the count. One of those is “children who are going from home to home,” Ruckriegel said. Caregivers should use the address where the child was living on April 1, 2020, which is usually the address where the child spends most of their time. Ruckriegel encourages anyone who has a question to call in.

The deadline for voluntary response to the census has been extended until Oct. 31. If a person does not have their letter from the census bureau, they don’t need it, Ruckriegel said. People can go online to my2020census.gov and type in their address.

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