Efforts focused toward a more complete count in Census 2000

By Barbara Ortutay Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Two thousand years have passed since, according to the Bible,
Joseph and Mary traveled by donkey to their home town of Bethlehem
to be counted in the census – which government officials still
stress as an important tool in getting a snapshot of the
population.

Everyone living in the United States – including college
students – is encouraged to fill out the forms, which this time
around allows people to mark more than one race to reflect the
changing population of the country. Through ad campaigns, mass
mailings and community volunteers, the government is also
attempting to encourage traditionally undercounted groups to
complete the forms.

The information collected through Census 2000 will be used to
allocate federal funds, electoral votes and seats in the House of
Representatives.

"Getting an accurate count is very important for resources being
distributed equally," said RoseAnne Gutierrez, a member of Samahang
Pilipino who also volunteers for the census.

Although the census forms state that "your response is required
by federal law," about two thirds of the population will mail in
the forms according to Census surveys. The target rate for
completed forms is 70 percent.

Since the last census in 1990, government officials have stepped
up campaigns to encourage groups who are traditionally undercounted
to complete the forms. Minorities, the poor, illegal immigrants and
the homeless are among those historically underrepresented in the
census.

Posters reading "No INS, No IRS, No CIA" stress that census data
will only be used for statistical purposes – illegal immigrants are
told they should not fear deportation, for example.

Workers who speak languages other than English are also helpful
in getting people to understand the forms, as are informational
pamphlets in different languages, Gutierrez said.

She added her volunteer work involves going out to various
communities to inform people about the importance of filling out
the census and to answer questions about the forms. She said having
volunteers go out to neighborhoods "demystifies" the census.

"Instead of an official-looking person, it’s important to have
people from various communities go out," she said.

For the first time, the 2000 census allows people to select more
than one racial category. Larry Hugg, spokesman for the U.S. Census
office in Los Angeles, said the responses will be tabulated
according to each category people mark. A person who marks African
American and Latino will be counted in one separate category, for
instance.

Although there may have been some confusion among college
students filling out the form, Hugg said college students living
away from home should fill out the census form if they receive it.
Parents of students who live away from home don’t need to fill out
the form for their children.

Students living in apartments should have received the forms by
mail, but to count on-campus residents, census workers will count
students in person rather than mail out the forms.

Yolanda Gonzales, manager of the Santa Monica Census office said
workers will knock door-to-door to collect information from
students in the residence halls.

Calling it a "lengthy operation," she said this way of counting
college students attempts to eliminate double counting – once by
their parents and once at their college residence.

"It was the best way we could reach everyone without the
duplication and still get them counted," she added.

A sample of households received a longer census form than most,
with detailed questions about income and mortgage payments, for
example.

Although government officials, including President Clinton, have
urged people to fill out census, some GOP members have raised
questions regarding privacy issues of these forms.

Last week, GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush said that
if he received the long form he was not sure he would fill it out.
Although Bush did not advise people not to complete the form, he
told the Associated Press, "If they’re worried about the government
intruding into their personal lives, they ought to think about
it."

With reports from Benjamin Parke, Daily Bruin Contributor, and
the Associated Press.