Everyone counts: It's Census Day in the U.S.

Central Michigan University students on their campus in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, campaign to get students to fill out census forms

April 1, 2000
Web posted at: 11:53 a.m. EST (1653 GMT)

In this story: Complaints about privacy Filing online Counting children and college students RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Today is the day the U.S. Census Bureau wants everyone to stand up and be counted.

AUDIO President Clinton talks about the history of the census and why it is important to fill it out 448K/35 sec. AIF or WAV sound 331K/32 sec. AIF or WAV sound 322K/30 sec. AIF or WAV sound    VIDEO Did you know the census can be filled out online? CNN's Rick Lockridge explains. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K An explanation of concerns with the long form, from CNN's Carl Rochelle. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Ed Garsten goes to a college to find out why some students don't think they count. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD The census effect

Important Census 2000 dates: April 1 "Census Day" -- Census forms should be in the mail, but there is no actual deadline for returning the surveys. April 10 -- If the Census Bureau does not have your form by this date, a census worker may come to your home to ask the questions in person. April 27-July 27 -- Census workers will canvass homes where residents did not return census forms. If you haven't received your Census 2000 form, call 1-800-471-9424 Source: U.S. Census Bureau

"If we believe everybody in our American community counts, then we simply must make sure everyone is counted," said President Clinton in declaring Saturday "Census Day."

"Census 2000 is our chance to write the latest chapter in the unfolding epic of America," Clinton said in his weekly radio address. He said census data is used to help draw congressional boundaries and to decide how federal funds are spent.

"When people are uncounted, their voices are unheard," he said. "It's important to make sure the first census of the 21st century is fair, accurate and complete."

Every 10 years, census workers try to count every person in the nation -- and to get the process under way, they're using Census Day to encourage people who haven't already done so to quickly mail in their Census 2000 surveys.

There is no actual deadline for returning the forms, according to Census Bureau spokesman Mike Bergman. But Bergman told CNN that the agency promoted April 1 as the "due date."

"That's the day we want everyone not just to think about the census, but if they haven't already -- fill it out and put it in the mail," he said.

Bergman said failure to return a census form is punishable by a $100 fine and a prison term -- but the last time a person was imprisoned for not filing out a form was in 1963. A newspaper columnist refused to file as a public protest and was pursued by the U.S. Justice Department.

Bergman said his agency is more interested in collecting data than in prosecuting people who toss the forms.

The Census Bureau sent questionnaires to 115 million households in March, but officially they want to know how many people are living in each home on April 1. That is because the once-a-decade count must be tied to a specific day.

As of Thursday, 49 percent of census forms were mailed back. Census officials hoped to get 70 percent of the forms back by late April. They hope Census Day leads to a spike in the response rate.

Several congressional Republicans grumbled this week about the questions on the long form of the census, saying constituents had complained that the questions invaded their privacy.

Aides to Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, the Senate majority leader, said they urged people to return forms but told callers worried about their privacy not to answer intrusive questions. That was a better solution than not returning a form, Lott's staff said.

President Clinton said he understood the privacy concerns, but said it's important to answer all census questions.

"Those who suggest that filling out your census form isn't essential are plainly wrong," Clinton said. "An inaccurate census distorts our understanding of a community's needs, denies people their fair share of resources and diminishes the quality of life not only for them, but for all of us."

"I know Americans are concerned about their privacy, and that's why I also want to stress that the information you provide is strictly, absolutely confidential," Clinton said. "Individual information will not be available to anyone outside the Census Bureau for any reason."

Among the long-form questions drawing ire is Question 17 which asks about the respondent's physical, mental or emotional conditions. And Question 39 asks whether the respondent has complete plumbing facilities: Hot and cold water? A flush toilet? A bathtub or shower?

A Central Michigan University student fills out his census form

The Census Bureau says the information is necessary to determine which communities get federal funds for schools, hospitals, fire protection and other services. The law requires people who receive a census form to answer all questions.

There are 53 questions on the long form this year, down from 57 in 1990. By comparison, the shorter form has seven questions.

If people don't return their surveys, or fail to answer all questions, census workers will canvass the neighborhoods.

Clinton calls this year's census "the largest peacetime mobilization in our history."

"The data collected will determine how more than $185 billion annually in public funds are shared fairly" as well as determining apportionment of the House of Representatives, Clinton said in a memo for federal employees.

"Census 2000 is an event that offers us an opportunity to engage in the spirit of civic participation that is so important to our representative democracy," Clinton said. He urged federal employees to complete and return their census forms.

Skerry says that some people are reluctant to fill out the census because of concerns about invasion of privacy ( 676 K/38 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

Peter Skerry, a political science professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, recently published a study called "Counting on the Census: Race, Identity, and the Evasion of Politics." He told CNN on Saturday that the census is "clearly very important."

"It helps us all, the Constitution asks us to do this, tells us to do it, for the purpose of reapportioning, or redistributing members of Congress among the states every 10 years to make up for population changes in the states," Skerry said.

If you receive the short census form, you can file it online. But the Census Bureau would rather you stick with the old pen and paper technique.

"We still kind of prefer the paper option," said Edison Gore of the Census Bureau. "It's kind of tried, proven ... it works."

Gore said that by the time some 120 million questionnaires went to the printer a couple years back, it was too late to add information about Web sites. And he said the Census Bureau couldn't afford to risk any computer glitches, viruses or cyber-attacks.

But if you're among the 83 percent of U.S. households that get the short form, you can file over the Internet at the following Web site: www.2000.census.gov.

Census Bureau officials say only people who receive the short survey in the mail can file it online because they need information contained on the mailed form.

Guests on a campus television show at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, discuss the census as part of a campaign to get students to fill out their forms

U.S. children, especially those living in poverty, will be shortchanged if they don't get counted, the Children's Defense Fund warns. The nonprofit advocacy group is urging all Americans to fill out census forms and make sure their children are included.

Local communities decide where to build new schools, child care centers and health care facilities based on numbers of children, according to the CDF and the U.S. Census Bureau. But in the 1990 census, 2 million children were missed, the CDF says.

Where billions of dollars in federal funds will go for children's programs such as Head Start, nutrition help, foster care and child care depends on accurate counts of children living in each state.

Children under the age of 18 and the elderly benefit the most from federally funded programs. According to a Census Bureau study, one in four American children -- 23.7 percent -- received benefits for at least one month from programs such as food stamps and general assistance, hot lunch programs, housing assistance and other services from 1992 to 1993.

Obtaining accurate estimates of university students also is a high-stakes endeavor for states and cities. College towns such as Mount Pleasant, Michigan, for example, depend heavily on government money for road repairs, park improvements and other municipal projects.

Mount Pleasant, which is home to Central Michigan University, is determined not to lose out on government funding like it did in the 1990 census when it missed counting about 2,000 college students.

The city says it has lost about $5 million in state and federal funds during the past 10 years because of the undercount.

The students either did not know how to fill out the census questionnaire, forgot or were simply not interested, city officials said.

To counter that, Mount Pleasant officials have been running an aggressive advertising campaign and holding a raffle to lure the students to fill out the surveys. By turning in a completed form, students become eligible for the prize of $2,000.

Correspondent Carl Rochelle, Technology Correspondent Rick Lockridge, Detroit Bureau Chief Ed Garsten and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Census 2000 too nosey? Republicans criticize long-form questions
March 31, 2000
College town holds raffle to woo students to participate in census
March 31, 2000
Despite complaints, Lott encourages cooperation on census
March 30, 2000
INS to limit enforcement actions during U.S. census
March 14, 2000
Census count begins this week
March 13, 2000
Nail-biting week for the census bureau
February 1, 2000

US Census Bureau Home Page
  • Census 2000
Census Monitoring Board

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.