Census: It’s not too late to be counted

As the 2010 Census is coming to a close, there are residences that still remain uncounted.

The Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments is encouraging those who have not been mailed a form or had a census-taker stop by their house, to call the toll-free number to be counted. The 2010 Census Help Line operates between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. any day of the week through Friday, July 30, 2010. The number to call is 1-866-872-6868.

According to the Census Bureau, the phone process only takes about 10 minutes to complete. Residents are asked the same questions as were on the form, such as number of people living in their household, name, age, race and sex. All answers are confidential and no government agency besides the U.S. Census Bureau will have access to the information.

Bruce Mills, Research Analyst with Santee-Lynches, said that residents may have been overlooked for various reasons.

“If you have moved into the county within the last year, the Bureau may not have your residential address on file,” he said.

Mills said that the only requirement to be counted in the 2010 Census for Clarendon County is you must have been a resident since April 1, 2010. He said that overall the county has done well in this census. The national response rate was about 72 percent, the state was 73 percent and Clarendon’s was 70 percent.

“This figure is a lot better than the 2000 Census, when the county only had a 48 percent mail-in rate,” Mills said.

Mills said that according to 2009 population estimates, Clarendon had 32, 988 residents. According to these estimates, Clarendon had grown by about 486 people since 2000.

Mills said that participation in the Census is very important for the county’s progress. A higher population count means more federal and state funding for schools, roads, hospitals, job training programs and other public works projects. He also said that it would be an attraction for potential businesses and industry, which look to settle in growing areas with expanding workforces.

“This means everything from more restaurants in our communities, to more industrial jobs that pay competitive wages for our residents,” he said.

Additionally, Census population totals are used to reapportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and for the subsequent redistricting of state and local governments, according to Mills.