In rural Kansas, Census response rates are ‘very concerning’ as deadline approaches
Kearny County, in the far west reaches of Kansas, has fewer than five residents per square mile on average. By some estimates, its population dropped by roughly 140 over the past decade, to just over 3,800.
With so few people, you would think getting residents to participate in the Census would be a straightforward task.
Kearny actually has the lowest Census self-response rate among Kansas’s 105 counties, just 39.6 percent as of Aug. 13. Statewide, more than two-thirds of residents have responded so far.
It is one of ten rural counties that still have self-response rates under 50 percent more than four months after Census Day on April 1. An additional 18 counties are under 57 percent, according to the Census Bureau.
“This is very concerning,” said Rep. Russ Jennings, a Republican whose district includes Kearny. “There’s significant implications for not counting everyone.”
The results of the Census, a once-a-decade civic ritual, carry profound consequences. Numerous federal programs tie dollar allocations to population. Congressional and state legislative districts are drawn using its numbers.
Kearny County would lose approximately $50 million in federal aid over 10 years based on its current response rate, according to calculations by Wendi Stark, Census outreach manager at the League of Kansas Municipalities.
Declining population counts across rural Kansas may already lead to larger districts when new maps are devised – potentially putting more distance between citizens and their lawmakers. An undercount on the Census would accelerate the trend, perhaps expanding the already massive Big First congressional district that covers the western half of the state.
The Census is entering a critical, final phase. Employees are fanning out across Kansas and other states to reach households that haven’t responded ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to finish their work.
The cutoff date had been Oct. 31, but the Census Bureau moved up its timeline in early August, saying it needed to accelerate data collection in order to meet an end-of-year deadline in federal law.
A confluence of factors appear to be keeping many rural Kansans from filling out their Census questionnaires. They include longstanding complaints over how the Census delivers forms, slow internet service and reluctance to hand over personal information to the government.
On top of that, the coronavirus pandemic disrupted not only formal Census Bureau field operations, but also halted many of the events — fairs, parades, festivals — community leaders would typically use to raise awareness.
“My sense of it is the Census just feels like they can do it all on the internet or most of it on the internet and either you get your name in or you don’t,” said Ralph Goodnight, director of community development in Kearny County, who is spearheading local efforts to encourage residents to participate.
Goodnight said the Census has sent workers, called enumerators, to local school enrollment events and to the public library for a few hours. He doesn’t believe it’s enough.
“That’s not going to do it in rural America in the middle of farm season,” Goodnight said.
Some of the county’s population “prefers to do things the old school way,” Goodnight said, but residents have a difficult time completing the Census by mail because the Census Bureau, following past practice, won’t deliver questionnaires to Post Office Boxes – a common way to get mail in rural areas.
Jennings, who uses a PO box, called it a “problem.” When street addresses are used on mailings, the Post Office sends the mail back, he said.
“I’ve had plenty of mail returned, different forms, even my filing form for office,” Jennings said.
The Census ought to mail enough forms for every PO box holder, “then you’d be sure they get it,” he said.
Terri Ann Lowenthal, a Census expert who was the staff director of the U.S. House census oversight subcommittee in the late 80s and early 90s, said the agency mails questionnaires based on physical addresses because of the need to match residents to a specific location.
“The Census Bureau not only has to count everyone, it has to put people in a precise location geographically in order to meet the constitutional requirements for equal representation under the 14th Amendment,” Lowenthal said. “As I like to say colloquially to people who ask me about this, ‘people don’t live in PO boxes.’”
In areas where PO boxes are common, the Census Bureau leaves invitations to complete the form at household doors. The drop offs in Kansas were completed in mid-May, agency spokesperson Paige Wilson said.
Statewide, about 2.2 percent of housing units were expected to have invitations dropped off. Kearny County’s rate was much higher, at 7.4 percent, according to data collected by the City University of New York.
Additionally, the Census Bureau’s community partnership program has been working in Kansas since 2017, Wilson said in a statement.
“We have established partnerships with local governments, organizations, businesses, non-profits, schools, and houses of worship across the state in order to engage trusted voices in each community,” Wilson said. “Teamed up with the Census Bureau, these partners are educating and informing households in all Kansas communities about the importance of responding to the 2020 Census.”
In most of Kansas, Census workers began following up with households that haven’t responded beginning in late July. On Friday, the Census Bureau said it will contact some non-responding households nationwide by phone and is emailing households in low-responding areas.
The email addresses are gathered from government programs or commercial lists. An additional paper questionnaire is also being mailed to some non-responding households.
“Our commitment to a complete and accurate 2020 Census is absolute. In this challenging environment, we are deploying these tactics to make sure we reach every household in every community,” Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham said in a statement.
Stark said people sometimes raise concerns with how their personal information will be used by the Census and the government generally. She emphasized that only aggregate data is reported and that Census employees take an oath not to share individual data.
In any case, many individuals already have much more personal information online.
“If you googled yourself, you’ll actually come up with more information about yourself than you actually have to report to the Census Bureau,” Stark said.
Goodnight said there’s numerous reasons that people don’t participate in the Census, including not wanting to give information to the government and simple apathy. He’s using social media to urge residents to complete their questionnaires and is taking screenshots of Kearny’s low response rate.
The response rate improves just a little with every post, he said.
Goodnight said he hopes the Census informs community leaders when enumerators come to Kearny County over the next few weeks. He said he would give them maps with rural locations to help them find households.
But with only a month and a half to go, time is running out.
“We’ve got to ratchet up the pressure to get people to respond,” Jennings said.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM.