The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

Discussion

April 4, 2010

Jo Ellis: Carthage tops 2010 census return rate

CARTHAGE, Mo. — As of Friday, 57 percent of Carthage residents had returned their 2010 census forms. That’s a few percentage points ahead of the national return rate of 54 percent and almost equal to Jasper County’s overall rate of 58 percent.

The lowest return rate in the county was from Duenweg, with only 23 percent participation. Most other communities in the county ranged from 40 to 60 percent.

The highest return rate in the nation was from Green Township, Ohio, with 72 percent.

We could be doing better.

Returning your census form, which is a snap to fill out, can help the local economy because census data help determine how $400 billion in federal funds are distributed to state, local and tribal areas each year. A complete count from your community will help ensure that it gets its fair share of census-backed funding for the next 10 years.

Census-based federal funding can include money for schools, hospitals, emergency services, job training, senior centers, bridges and other public projects.

The national mail participation rate is the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them. The Census Bureau is challenging all communities to achieve a higher rate in 2010 than they did in the 2000 census, which came in at 72 percent nationwide. Jasper County bested the national rate in 2000, coming in at 74 percent, and Carthage’s return rate came in even higher, at 78 percent.

Let’s hope we do as well, or better, this year.

It’s rather amazing, but if every household that received a census form would complete it and mail it back, taxpayers could reduce the cost of the census by $1.5 billion. It doesn’t even require a postage stamp.

If you do not mail back your form, census takers will be knocking on your door, perhaps at inconvenient times, to gather the information. Ideally, all forms should have been returned by Census Day, April 1. But you have until the middle of April to mail back the form. Census takers won’t be contacting households that haven’t returned their form until the latter part of the month.

If you misplaced your form, after April 12 you may contact the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance Center at 866-872-6868 to ask for a replacement. If you have lost only the return envelope, you can mail the completed form to U.S. Census Bureau, National Processing Center, 1200 E. 10th St., Jeffersonville, IN 47132. But you’ll have to pay the postage.

The U.S. Constitution requires that a census be taken every 10 years. Title 13, Section 221 of the U.S. Code requires that households respond or be held criminally responsible. The Census Bureau views prosecution as a last resort, and relies on communication and education to emphasize the importance of responding to the census request.

Information collected in the 10 short questions is confidential. Your privacy is protected by law, and the data are used strictly for statistical purposes.

You can follow your community, state and the national census return rate on the Web site 2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/.

It’s easy to navigate.

Congratulations to all Carthage and Jasper County residents who have mailed in their census forms. And, hey, what are the rest of you waiting on? A visit from the census workers?

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Carthage, Jasper County
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