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The 2020 Census is a once in a decade opportunity! Although Census 2020 issues range broadly from information security breaches to fines, it is in our best interest as a nation to complete it. This article will take you through some of the issues and outline a bit of our PATRIOTIC and GENEALOGICAL duty to take these 2020 Census issues seriously.
Can I be fined for not answering the 2020 Census?
The first question to be answered: “will I be fined for NOT answering the 2020 Census?” The answer to that is a resounding “YES!” While this may sound somewhat draconian, it is not.
Legally, according to the American Bar Association:
“By census law, refusal to answer all or part of the census carries a $100 fine. The penalty goes up to $500 for giving false answers.”
ABA (source: ABA website)
However, the ABA also goes on to state that…
“the fine could be significantly higher than $100 for purposely avoiding questions. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 effectively raised the penalty to as much as $5,000 for refusing to answer a census question.”
ABA (ibid – emphasis added)
Don’t start shaking your fists at the government just yet, the American Bar Association also states that “there has not been a prosecution in nearly 50 years” (ibid).
Now that we have a bit of the Law & Order drama out of the way, let’s get into the meat and merit of the 2020 Census – what it means, why it’s important to participate, as well as a few comparative stats with past censuses back to 1790.
Why is it important to complete the Census?
Census 2020 issues aside, it is important for every American to complete this national survey because of the benefits it brings to our communities, not to mention the collective political clout that it actually carries with respect to our electoral process.
CENSUS DATA GOES TOWARD:
- Determining the number of seats in the House of Representatives per district enumerated
- Distributing benefits and funding to communities in need
- Supporting publicly-funded services like fire departments, schools, and law enforcement
- Planning new economic activity such as building new homes and other infrastructure
When is Census information made available to the public?
The United States Census Bureau (part of the U.S. Department of Commerce) has what is called the “72 Year Rule.” What this means is that census data is required by law to remain private and unpublished to the public for 72 years after any given census year.
The long and short of this means that the general public cannot obtain any vital statistics from any census records for 72 years after census day.
- The 2020 Census data will not be available until 2092! (unless laws are changed)
- The 1950 Census will not be available until April 2022!
- The last available Census to be released was the 1940 Census, released on April 2, 2012!
My 2000 Census experience!
Back in the year 2000, I actually worked part-time for the U.S. Census Bureau as an enumerator. What a crazy experience that was! It was also an invaluable experience for me as a genealogist.
I had a full-time job but wanted to experience first-hand what the Census was all about. Boy did I get an education! Long story short, I started out as a door-to-door enumerator, but because of my tenacity and unflinching personality I eventually got assigned the “tough” “follow-up” cases.
I literally had to go back to residences where doors were slammed in other enumerator’s faces and was tasked with getting a response! Due to my negotiation skills and intrepid personality I managed to successfully complete over 95% of those cases.
Believe me, there were a lot of tough cases and I had to deal with an inordinate amount of irate and irrational people – some addresses I had to revisit 3 or 4 times! However, once convinced of the merits (and anti-conspiratorial nature) of the 2000 Census, people came to their senses. Or, “came to their census” as the pun goes.
How is the Census enumerated and who gets counted?
Census Day was actually April 1, 2020. The 2020 Census will be collected both ELECTRONICALLY and PHYSICALLY. As mailouts to each known address were sent back in April 2020, every person living in the United States (or household) has a chance to either respond online, telephone, or to a census worker.
To respond to your 2020 Census, simply go to: https://my2020census.gov/.
If you do not respond online by a certain date, enumerators will show up at your door. Enumerators will give you the option of having them take down your information using smartphones.
EVERY LIVING PERSON in the United States, regardless of legal status, is supposed to be enumerated! The Census is, after all, a snapshot of the population of the country as of April 1, 2020. The data is both political, economic, as well as historical!
For more information, read the US Census Bureau’s breakdown of “Residence Criteria.”
What questions will be asked on the 2020 Census?
There are 7 major question sets that will be asked. All of the questions were submitted to Congress for approval, some were disallowed. Here are the questions:
- The number of people living or staying at your home on April 1, 2020.
- Whether the home is owned or rented.
- The sex [gender] of each person in the household.
- The age of each person in the household.
- The race of each person in the household.
- Whether a person in the household is of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.
- The relationship of each person in the household to each other.
Notably lacking is a CITIZENSHIP question. It’s quite appalling, actually. It’s one of the central Census 2020 issues that remains in limbo. There are also no SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS on the 2020 Census.
Census 2020 Issues
I believe that a CITIZENSHIP QUESTION is absolutely imperative for our nation’s census to preserve information for the future. Indeed, past censuses have provided families with invaluable genealogical data as to their ancestors’ status and has been a tremendous research aid.
• Citizenship Information
The 2020 Census will not include citizenship information due to political controversy. It is a decision I do not agree with because it is based on weak and emotional political rationales rather than logical scientific ones.
• Security Issues
There are also security issues abounding in this day and age. Namely, information security. With the rise of hacking and state espionage, the general populace is entitled to be just a bit weary of sending out its personal information to be stored on some government-sponsored private company’s server.
• Fines
As discussed at the beginning of this article, you can actually be fined for not participating in the 2020 Census. Fines will range from $100 upward to $500. I believe the fines are more geared toward falsifying information, however.
• Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 (Corona virus) pandemic, the capabilities and logistics of enumerators has been grossly effected. However, thanks to the advent of online participation in the 2020 Census, all should be well.
The pandemic, however, has effected the displacement of many college students and others with respect to enumerating their actual place of residence as of census day. This is an important factor, statistically speaking.
Do your Civic, Temporal, and Genealogical Duty!
That’s right, I believe that we are in an auspicious time in 2020. We have the chance and privilege to participate in a form of national accounting, to be a part of a once in a decade opportunity.
We have the chance to do several duties: CIVIC, TEMPORAL, and GENEALOGICAL. Civic, to our nation. Temporal, to those in the future. Genealogical, to our descendants and family who will one day research us.
How do the 2020 Census questions compare to all past censuses?
So, how does our current census stack up to all of the past 23 United States censuses dating back to 1790? Well that’s a HUGE question! Here’s the short and easy answer!
Visit the United States Census Bureau’s website for a full list of individual CENSUS QUESTIONS by year.
Visit the United States Census Bureau’s website for a full list of CENSUS QUESTIONNAIRES by year.
Thank you for reading, now leave a comment below and share. Cheers.
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