Skipping The 2020 Census Citizenship Question? You'll Still Be Counted

[hlthe2b]

Last edited Wed Apr 24, 2019, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

YES, you CAN refuse to answer that question without legal repercussions, (if it IS Added) So, if we do lose in SCOTUS, it falls to all of us to try to get the word out

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/19/603629576/skipping-the-2020-census-citizenship-question-youll-still-be-counted

Updated on April 27

Incomplete questionnaires for the 2020 census, including those that leave the controversial citizenship question unanswered, will still be included in the upcoming U.S. head count, the Census Bureau's top official confirmed Wednesday to lawmakers.

"We process many surveys with incomplete responses. The census [was] certainly one of those [surveys] in the past. It will be in the future," the bureau's acting director, Ron Jarmin, testified on Capitol Hill during a House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee hearing on the 2020 census.

Asked by Democratic Rep. Grace Meng of New York whether people who don't fill out the citizenship question on the census form would be counted, Jarmin replied, "Yes, but we would definitely encourage people to fill it out as completely as possible."

Kick for others. I have seen multiple posts today that erroneously state that leaving a single question blank while completing the rest of the census will result in undercounting and thus underfunding for the community. That is NOT true. It only occurs if the census is not completed AT ALL. YOU CAN leave the citizenship question blank if it appears on the census.

[Igel]

1. I knew a lot of (R) in '80 who refused to answer a lot of the questions on the long form that year.

It happens.

Of course, the result of not answering some questions was that census workers came along in the following months, knocking on doors and asking for the information to complete those particular questions. They'd ask children, neighbors, whoever might have the information.

(Not all undocumented residents where I lived were happy with the census in 2010, either. Which led to a spate of Spanish-speaking census workers in the area from time to time, asking questions about how many people lived in a house, if they working, etc., etc.)

[2naSalit]

2. I worked the 2010 Census

as a Crew leader, I trained, fingerprinted and supervised a crew of enumerators (door knockers). I also had to settle disputes between my enumerators and individuals who were not cooperative. I also have to "borrow" some Spanish speaking workers to complete my district. Some of the people they were recruited to interview were people I knew and worked with at other times in some cases. Since some of them knew me, they were not afraid. There is a one or two paragraph handout that goes to everyone who talks to a Census worker that informs them of their rights and obligations in this interaction and informs them of Title XIII and he Privacy Act.

I did that for several months because once all the mail-in questionnaires come back, there is another troupe who will come out and do a "follow-up" trying to find out about addresses where nobody responded. In rural Montana, we had to hand deliver all our questionnaires to begin with,, then we had to go back out and do the follow-up. The there's yet another follow up after that. Each of those was called an "operation". I worked five operations in sequence for that Census. After one tour as an enumerator, I was upgraded to the best paid and overworked pencil-pushing babysitting position I've ever had.

[krispos42]

5. I did as well

Rural Minnesota. I was an enumerator doing all the follow-ups for residences that did not answer the survey. Only had one anti-government type. He only gave out his name, age, and race "American". Most people were pretty accommodating. Several cases of snowbirds that were in the Sun Belt when the forms were mailed out.

[Norbert]

3. There is a significant percentage of cencus that something isn't filled out

it happens all the time. I'm hearing they get counted anyway

[hlthe2b]

4. And what would you do if on one single question the resident refused to answer?

The answer I already know-- there is nothing one can do and it gets counted anyway... That's the point. But, we can't let the worried vulnerable populations think that they should NOT answer the entire census at all. All it will take is some concerted rumors that census workers are actually ICE.

The question about citizenship has no place. I will refuse to answer it if it is included.

[2naSalit]

6. I certainly refuse to answer that question, I think everybody should...nt

[hlthe2b]

7. KICK. MULTIPLE posts today have erroneously stated leaving citizenship blank will mean undercount.

Kick for others. I have seen multiple posts today that erroneously state that leaving a single question blank while completing the rest of the census will result in undercounting and thus underfunding for the community. That is NOT true. It only occurs if the census is not completed AT ALL. YOU CAN leave the citizenship question blank if it appears on the census.