Filling out form promptly keeps workers away
The easiest way to avoid a door-to-door visit from a census 2020 worker during the coronavirus crisis or later is to fill out your census form promptly online, by phone or through the mail.
Otherwise, you may eventually get an in-person visit from a census worker.
Visits to non-responding households under the Census Bureau’s original plans were to take place in May and June, though that plan may now change. A smaller, targeted follow-up effort around college campuses already has been delayed indefinitely from the planned start of April 9.
“The planned completion date for data collection for the 2020 Census is July 31, 2020, however, that date can and will be adjusted if necessary as the situation evolves in order to achieve a complete and accurate count,” the Census Bureau said in a statement released on Sunday.
The census form is based on place of residency on
April 1, though you don’t have to wait until then to fill out the form. More than 5 million forms have already been submitted.
Short-term, a more pressing issue is the counting of homeless people at shelters, soup kitchens, tent communities and other places.
“The plan has been to interview each person served a meal or staying at the facility at a date and time the service providers choose between March 30 and April 1,” the Census Bureau said. “We are now contacting the service providers to determine whether they will be open between March 30 and April 1 and whether they would be able to provide a paper listing of census response data for each person served or staying at the facility instead.”
Many American households already have received notices and reminders, with instructions for completing the census 2020 form. In certain targeted areas, such as where internet access is limited or where there are concentrations of older people, the paper forms have also been mailed out.
This is the first census in which online and phone options are available for completing the form.
“It has never been easier to respond on your own, whether online, over the phone or by mail-all without having to meet a census taker,” the Census Bureau notes.
Here is the Census 2020 schedule, though as the bureau notes, some changes are possible.
March 12-20: Mailings will go to nearly every household. For most, this will only involve instructions on how to fill out the form online or by phone. Others in targeted areas, such as places with limited internet access or with older populations, will receive a paper form in this mailing as well as the online and phone instructions. This group will account for about 1-in-5 mailings.
March 16-24: Reminder letters will be delivered.
March 26-April 3: Reminder postcards will be delivered to households that have not yet responded. Only one form is to be completed per household, not one form per person.
March 30-April 1: (Now under review) The Census Bureau will count homeless people, in part by going to shelters, soup kitchens, tent encampments and the streets.
April 1: Census day. Households will be asked to provide a count as of this date. For example, a child born April 1 or earlier counts; children born later do not count. (Newborns still in the hospital count at the home where they will be living, not the hospital.)
April 8-16: Households not yet responding will receive another reminder. This time, all the mailings will include a paper questionnaires, not just instructions to complete online or by phone.
May-June: (Possible revisions) Census takers will visit homes for which responses have not been received.
December: The Census Bureau will deliver an official count to President Donald Trump for the purpose of dividing up the 435 congressional seats among the 50 states.
2021: Other census results will be released.