Census count coming to an end

Published 5:15 am Wednesday, September 2, 2020

The data collection phase of the 2020 Census concludes at the end of this month, and whatever population count is garnered by that time will be the numbers that are used for the next 10 years. Local officials are continuing the push to get as complete a count as possible.

Alabama has fallen behind several northern and western states in counting its population, but Cullman County and its municipalities are, for the most part, out performing the state’s count.

Alabama’s self-response rate is 61.8, below the national rate of 64.9. Minnesota currently has the highest self-response rate – 73.9 percent – with Washington, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan all having self-response rates of 70 percent or higher. 

Cullman County’s overall self-response rate is currently 64.8 percent. In Fairview, 75.5 percent of households have responded.

Mayor Keith Henry said he hopes the town will reach 100 percent by the end of the month. “The townspeople have done well getting their surveys in,” he said. “Ideally, I’d like to have more. It certainly helps with our funding.”

Fairview Clerk Debbie Shedd took the lead in promoting the census and driving participation. Shedd, who has lived in Fairview her whole life, relied on those personal relationships to spread the word.

“I’ve been calling everyone in town and double checking with them,” she said. She also worked with a woman who is bilingual to reach the town’s Hispanic residents. “I worked with her one Saturday and we got just about everyone,” said Shedd.

Shedd said having someone who speaks Spanish explain what the census is about and also being present as a trusted representative of the town helped boost participation. “I think that really makes a big difference,” she said.

Because the count is done every 10 years and Cullman’s municipalities divide up sales tax based on population, Shedd said it’s especially important to get an accurate count of residents. “Our town has grown but it doesn’t matter if we’ve grown or not if we don’t get counted,” she said.

Susan Eller, retail and workforce development manager for the Cullman Economic Development Agency, noted that local governments could also lose out on grant funding if the population count is not accurate.

“We work hard for our income tax every year and the only way to ensure that part of it comes back to us is through the census,” she said. “We get a lot of grants in our community, and a lot of that depends on your demographics. They’ve got to have the right number of people to send the money to these areas.”

Privacy concerns are one common barrier to individuals completing the census form, but Eller points out that the government already knows a lot about people through tax returns, utilities, drivers’ licenses, property taxes and other interactions with the government. “The government knows where you are, it’s just a matter of providing who is at your address,” she said.

She and Rep. Corey Harbison, who has been promoting the census throughout Good Hope, said they have also heard from people who said they have completed the census form, but have been contacted by the Census Bureau and told they haven’t completed the form.

“[Census takers] have access to the census data and obviously it’s missing,” said Harbison. He encourages residents to provide the information again if they think there’s a chance their information was not received by the Census Bureau. “It’s not going to hurt to put it in twice,” he said.

Census workers are currently going door-to-door of residents who have not completed their forms. Once that concludes at the end of this month, the Census Bureau will use the remaining months of 2020 to clean up the data before presenting the numbers to the president on Dec. 31.

Locally, officials are continuing to push for more people to fill out the census form and be counted.

Eller said a recent census drive at area industries – Topre, HH Technologies, GSI, Certa and Rehau – resulted in about 500 more people responding to the census. They have also had a presence at the courthouse, football games, the courthouse annex in Dodge City and other area locations.

This week, individuals who complete their census form at Werner’s Trading Company will be eligible to win one of two $50 gift certificates to the store.

Harbison said they will continue driving for more residents to participate because of what’s at stake with an undercount. “For individuals, I would say that it’s important to get those numbers because from the federal government all the way down to state and local, the census is used to determine funding,” he said. Without an accurate count, “Our community is gong to be losing out on funding,” he added.

Politically, Alabama stands to lose at least one congressional seat based on the response to the census, and could possibly lose two.

“It’s important to get the highest count as we can because we don’t want to lose that congressional seat,” said Harbison. “It will also cost us electoral votes and that will makes Alabama less relevant than we already are compared to other states’ influence.”

United States 65%

Alabama 61.8%

Cullman County 64.8%

Baileyton 62.4%

Berlin 57.6%

Colony 62.2%

Cullman 69.3%

Dodge City 65.4%

Fairview 75.5%

Garden City 59.6%

Good Hope 71.3%

Hanceville 64.1%

South Vinemont 55.4%

West Point 67.2%