Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 11 March 2020
Most of U.S. starts answering census questions in next days

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and Besides English, respon-
FRANCOIS DUCKETT dents will be able to an-
Associated Press swer the census question-
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The naire in Spanish, Simplified
2020 census kicked off in Chinese, Traditional Chi-
rural villages of Alaska in nese, Vietnamese, Korean,
January. Now the rest of Russian, Arabic, Tagalog,
the nation gets to start par- Polish, French, Haitian Cre-
ticipating in the once-a- ole, Portuguese and Japa-
decade head count. Here nese. Guides in both video
are answers to some fre- and print are being issued
quently asked questions. in 59 languages, including
WHEN WILL I HEAR FROM American Sign Language.
THE CENSUS BUREAU? ___
The Census Bureau will be- WHO GETS COUNTED?
gin sending out notices Everyone residing in the
this week to 95% of the na- United States and the five
tion's households, informing U.S. territories, including
people that they can start non-citizens and immi-
participating in the 2020 grants living in the coun-
census. The mailings will be try illegally. Prisoners are
staggered, going out from In this Aug. 13, 2019, file photo, a worker gets ready to pass out instructions on how to fill out the counted in the facilities
March 12 to 20 to avoid 2020 census during a town hall meeting in Lithonia, Ga. where they live, and mili-
overwhelming the self- Associated Press tary personnel temporar-
response website and a For less than 5% of house- ING AT MY DOOR? after that. If you still haven't ily deployed overseas are
telephone helpline. About holds, in areas that have Only if you fail to reply responded by April, you will counted at their home ad-
80% of households receiv- been hit by natural disaster online, by mail or by tele- get another reminder with dresses in the U.S.
ing the initial mailings will or places that use only PO phone. This is the first cen- a paper questionnaire in ___
be encouraged to answer boxes, a census taker will sus in which the Census the mail, followed by a fi- WILL MY INFORMATION BE
the questions online, and drop off the initial notices Bureau is encouraging nal reminder postcard. By SHARED?
around 20% of households in person. Census takers most people to answer the May, the Census Bureau No. Under federal law, all
will get a paper question- will eventually go home questions via the internet. will be sending out work- responses are kept com-
naire that can be mailed to home, interviewing resi- The Census Bureau's initial ers to knock on the doors pletely confidential, and
back because they live in dents of households that mailing in mid-March will of households they haven't they can be used only to
neighborhoods with low in- have not responded. be followed by a reminder heard back from. produce statistics.
ternet access or large num- ___ letter a week later and a ___ ___
bers of seniors. WILL SOMEONE BE KNOCK- postcard reminder a week WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS? WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
The form asks how many Because the 2020 cen-
people live in the house- sus is used to determine
hold as of April 1, whether who your representative
the home is owned or rent- in Congress is, where new
ed, and the form-filler's age businesses can build, how
and sex. They ask people crowded your local schools
to identify themselves by will get over the next de-
race, declare whether cade, and whether high-
they're Hispanic or not, and ways in your community
provide details about their get money for repairs. The
country of origin. All other results of the 2020 census
residents in the household help determine the distribu-
must answer, or have the tion of $1.5 trillion in federal
first form-filler answer for spending, as well as how
them, the same questions many congressional seats
on age, sex, race and His- each state gets.
panic origin. They must ___
specify their relationship to HOW DOES THE CENSUS BU-
the form-filler and if they REAU KNOW WHERE TO FIND
live elsewhere, like away at ME?
college. For the first time, They don't start from
same-sex couples will be scratch. The Census Bu-
able to identify as such, reau continually updates
either as spouses or unmar- a complete inventory of
ried partners. housing units using an ad-
___ dress list that shows them
IS THERE A CITIZENSHIP where to count. They get
QUESTION? information from the U.S.
No. The Trump administra- Postal Service, tribal, state
tion tried to add the ques- and local governments.
tion, but the U.S. Supreme Addresses that couldn't be
Court blocked it. verified using satellite imag-
___ es or mapping tools were
WHAT IF I DON'T SPEAK checked door-to-door by
ENGLISH? canvassers last fall.q