Friday, April 02, 2010

I Get the Census Again

I got another census form in the mail yesterday. I thought that was a little odd. Opened it up and it was the same form that I'd gotten earlier. I looked it over to see if there was any sort of information on the form to tell you what to do if you got another form.

No such luck. There was, however, an 800 number to call. So I called that. I wondered if I would get to talk to a person or if it would all be automated. It turned out to be all automated. The thing now was to see if I could find an answer to my question which was should I fill the form out again and send it in. The first set of general information questions did not hold an answer. The second set did.

The answer is that if you get the form again you should fill it out and sent it back. The reason you get a second form is that they never received the first. They said it is cheaper to send a second form then to have an actual worker come out to your home. They said you would not be counted twice.

I filled the form out and again. This time I went to the nearby post office and mailed it there. Hopefully this time it will get to them.

You can see the response rate to the census by clicking here. This takes you to the census site. The top five response states are Wisconsin 66%, South Dakota 64%, Iowa 63%, North Dakota 62% and Nebraska 62%. Locally the response rate Virginia 60%, Maryland 56% and the District 50%. The map is very cool. You can get down to the county level of participation. It's worth taking a look at.

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