Did you fill out the census questionnaire yet? How accurate do you think it will be?

I work for an organization that is (or was) trying to mobilize employees to help out with the census and also educated us about the census and the importance of counting everyone.

They taught us that if you don’t return the paper census in the mail, someone will come knocking on your door.

Now with the virus I can’t imagine anybody wanting to knock on any doors and nobody would want their doors knocked on.

A friend helps out her local politicians to get signatures to put names on the ballot (ballot for local political office, nothing census related) and I told her it’s unbelievably antiquated to have to have people knocking on doors for that, especially with the virus now.

I can’t imagine the census being very accurate at all. In fact, maybe they should postpone it for a year until the virus issue is more under control.

@jca2 I kind of agree. I don’t think it will be very accurate. I didn’t get a mail-in option; was only directed to the online site.

Haven’t gotten mine yet.

@janbb: I got something in the mail at home but I didn’t open it yet.

@jca2 I got something in the mail too but when I opened it today it was just a direct to the web site and the code you need to enter for your ID.

I received a mail in form, my parents didn’t. I wonder how they decide that.

I’m still deciding how detailed I want to be on it.

Do I just want to answer white for me with no national background? I guess probably. My national background is completely irrelevant since it’s my parents and grandparents generation.

Do I just want to answer white for my husband? I went ahead and checked Mexican, but was hesitant. Should I also put under white for him Israeli, Spanish and French? Those were the nationalities of his grandparents.

What do you think?

I don’t remember what I did last year.

I wouldn’t give out too much information. I haven’t received mine yet.

I got the invitation to complete the census online, and I’ve already done it. I was surprised how easy it was and how little they asked.

I don’t know why anyone would be worried about it right now. To me, there is nothing about the way it’s being done that would lead me to question its veracity. It is completely separate from the response to the pandemic. They are completely unrelated. It will be months before they will be sending representatives to knock on doors of people who do not respond.

Serious question: what about the invitation you received in the mail makes you suspect the census will be faulty?

I wrote a long answer out to jleslie; I thought it was on this Q. I must be jumping around too much.

@Hawaii_Jake I don’t people would be worried about filling it out; I just think it will probably not be on their radar list right now. I didn’t think anything about the invitation made me think it was faulty; where or who are you getting that idea from?

@janbb I looked for it on your page, and couldn’t find it.

I probably either forgot to post it or posted it somewhere else. Basically, I said it doesn’t ask for that much and I don’t think it matters so much what you put for race – no need to overthink that. I chose “other” instead of “white” and put down “Jewish” even though that’s not really a race.

@janbb It has space for it.

I would never put Jewish. Jewish is a religion or ethnicity, I don’t consider it a race or national origin.

@JLeslie The point was that that doesn’t really matter. And as far as I saw, they only asked if you were Hispanic in terms of national origin not where your grandparents were from.

I was surprised that they wanted to know all about my races. I put down 4% South Asian, 10% El Salvador Indian and 86% German. Yea, I’m a mutt. HA!

@janbb There is space under white also. You probably don’t notice it, because it doesn’t occur to you to explain white from where. It was on there ten years ago too I think.

I just got my census letter. I really don’t want to even fill it out…
I haven’t opened it, yet.

What would happen, if I don’t do it?

I’m only familiar with local laws….

@MrGrimm888 If you and other people in your area don’t do it, the government won’t have an accurate count of your local population when apportioning funds. If you don’t care about your community, it probably doesn’t matter if you don’t fill it out..

@janbb In an answer to @jca2, you wrote, ” I don’t think it will be very accurate.” I read that and inside my head I misconstrued it. Honestly, I think it will be fine. I think it will be as accurate as any census we’ve done in the past 200+ years. I’m replying in all seriousness.

From what I’ve read, the process is that they will continue to contact each household by mail for some time, and then as a last resort, they will send out a person to interview the household.

I am astonished by ordinary people not answering the census. If I were an undocumented alien, I would be very frightened, but an ordinary citizen? What’s the big deal? The whole thing is done online, and it took me possibly 7 or 8 minutes to complete. In this first mailing, there is no option to mail in a form.

I am also quite flummoxed by people answering this question who also state they haven’t even opened the notice they received in the mail.

@Hawaii_Jake I wasn’t very clear in what I wrote then. What I feel is that people will not focus on it right now and not answer because of being concerned with the pandemic. I agree that it was no big deal to fill out. If indeed, they do follow up in person with those who haven’t answered, it will help. I agree with you that there is no responsible reason for not filling it out.

As a side note, I do feel that there is certainly fear about answering by undocumented persons after all the back and forth about a citizenship question even though it was eventually not allowed.

@janbb Yes, as I said, if I were undocumented, I would be very frightened. There is nothing in the questions that could lead the Census Bureau to alert any authority about a person’s status of legal residence, so they can answer, but I would still be very frightened if I were undocumented. But then, if I were undocumented, I would be very frightened every day during this administration.

We agree.

@MrGrimm888 If you don’t send it in they come knocking. Maybe they will postpone it due to the virus, but eventually it will happen. The census is important for representation. Also, I must say I have found looking at old census information very interesting, especially for my own family. I didn’t know my grandfather lived with his sister even as adults for a time, except for the census.

I don’t know what questions they bother to get more information for if you don’t answer. Most importantly is the count. If you don’t want to fill race it probably doesn’t matter. Maybe someone here knows for sure.

When you do it online maybe it would not let you submit if it’s not completed enough, that might tell you. I’m just guessing.

@chyna: Why would you not provide too much information?

@cookieman I’m guessing Nazi Germany. That’s why I take a pause before filing it out. I can’t speak for @chyna though.

@janbb @Hawaii_Jake

Was there a citizenship question in the census?

@Brian1946 No, there wasn’t.

I agree with what @jleslie said. I don’t want anyone coming after me for my background. I’m probably over cautious, but that’s ok.

@chyna It asked for my race. I selected “white” because that fits for me. It did not ask me for my background.

I went to the census website to see if for some reason the site is different than the paper form, which I couldn’t understand how that would be possible, but you never know. The tutorial on the site has the exact same questions. Question 8 asks about Hispanic origin, and question 9 asks race and a space to write in origin. Here is the link.

@chyna: Got’cha.

@Hawaii_Jake: I’m one (above) who hasn’t opened the envelope yet . I will open it. I figure why rush? Right now I’m dealing with day to day, whether to try to go to work or wondering at what point do I start staying home. I like my job but I will enjoy some time off, but I’d rather be off and be able to do something, which I can’t. Can I get food, should I go to the supermarket or should I avoid it, do I need cat food? What about the rest of the pets? Should I go to a pet store or try to avoid stores as much as possible. Am I going to die? My daughter has one parent and I hope I don’t die. I need to send my executor the list of account numbers for my will. Opening the census envelope is very low on my list of priorities. It will be done. Just not right now. .

@jca2 Have you heard talk of extending the due date? I heard mentioned somewhere that the tax due date might be extended past April 15.

I just received mine yesterday & it is the actual form. Ten years ago I had a problem answering one question & a lady showed up at my door asking what the problem was. Once I explained it to her, she corrected my response & said thank you for your time. I heard nothing further after that. I haven’t looked at the form yet. My plan is to complete it today & put it back in the mail.

I received a letter size envelope today that doesn’t feel very thick. I’m assuming it is to instruct me to go to the website. Haven’t opened it yet but it’s too thin to be the full form

@SEKA That’s what I got and used. It gives you an ID number.

Hmmmm, haven’t opened it yet so not sure what I received. It just didn’t feel thick enough to be the the full form. Wonder what will happen if you receive the form and the go to our website and they both have ID numbers but not the same number. Would that household be counted twice?

^^ No, you have to input the number they give you the form.

@jca2 And I’m not also facing an existential threat? I have to commute by bus twice a day. It’s a rolling virus incubator. Give me a break.

I think it is silly to answer a question when one hasn’t even accessed the instructions the question is referencing.

@Hawaii_Jake: Her question didn’t specify that only people who have answered the census should comment.

I know we’re all facing a threat – my explanation of why I haven’t done the census yet was merely to explain my reasoning.

If the OP has a problem with what I wrote, she hasn’t said anything.

@jca2 Truce. Peace be with you.

You too, Jake.

I did not receive it in the mail, but I just went online, punched in my address, and completed it.

None of the questions were very invasive IMHO.

@SEKA I received the full form yesterday & today I received the short form telling me to go to the website to complete the questionnaire. After seeing your Q, I looked at both & mine has the same ID number. I didn’t see any instructions saying what to do IF they didn’t match, so the ID number must be directly related to the address…NOT the name!!!

^ Good, but I have faith that someone will receive both forms with a different ID and the government will be penalizing them for not turning in one of the numbers

Got it in the afternoon Post ! Will fill it out while on 14 day !

I just got my form today, I guess I’ll tackle it tomorrow. Ugh.

Got it done. Has to be complete by April 1st.

@canidmajor It’s no biggie. Took me 10 minutes online.

Good project for the morning, then, when I’m alert and drinking coffee. It’ll be a Yay! Something slightly different! Moment to celebrate in the sameness of our quarantine days. :-)

I filled it out. I don’t have a lot of faith in it being tabulated accurately, so many issues could happen with the cyber infrastructure.

I decided to do mine online since I hadn’t mailed it yet.

I’m not sure how people missed the blank like for origin under your race. I went ahead and put Latvian for me, and Israeli, French, and Spanish for my husband. I almost put West Asian instead of Israeli for my husband. They seemed to want a country though. Mixed feelings from me about it, but it’s done.

I still find it interesting so many jellies just didn’t see that question altogether. Does it mean white non-Hispanic people (I think you are all white?) generally don’t expect to be asked their origin? Or, just that they perceive origin as being a question for new immigrants? My mom thought it was for immigrants, while my father disagreed and made her choose something to put in the blank. She chose Austrian, which I hadn’t listed on my form. Supposedly, her father’s side has some Austrian. My dad put Latvian. My parents are second and third generation Americans depending what sides of the family you are looking on.

^^ I just really don’t think that mattered.

@janbb I’m not trying to say it mattered or not, although there are all sorts of places of origin listed on the form to help people pick one, but more I found it interesting who notices it.

I did notice that IF you were from Lebanon or Egypt that you were instructed to choose “white” for your race.

@JLeslie As I had said above, I had skipped the Caucasian option which is why I didn’t see the “Origin” choices and went to Other for reasons of my own.

@janbb Oh, you didn’t answer white at all. Got it. I missed that.

Just to clarify, I have no problem with people skipping race, or omitting national origin. It’s all self reporting anyway. I think people should answer what they want.

I do find looking at old census reports interesting though, and I do like seeing the data about my family.