Come on, Census, Join Us on the Internet

by Josie Raymond · 2010-03-24 11:31:00 UTC
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Hopefully, every household in America received its U.S. Census form last week, and someone dutifully sat down, filled it out and dropped it in the mail. Even if the marketing bugged you, it's clear that being counted is the first step to getting adequate funding for your community's schools, public transportation and Congressional representation. (This fact is lost on just a few, including Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has vowed not to fill out the big scary 10-question Census.)

Of course, the Census doesn't count everyone. In 2000, the mail-in rate was just 72 percent. Beyond that, the Constitutionally-required count is notorious for missing the homeless population. Not having a mailbox does prohibit one from receiving mail, but definitely not from needing services. Los Angeles, a hub of homelessness, loses out on more than $1,000 in federal funding for each person not counted. It's a cruel irony that those most in need of services are the ones most likely to be undercounted.

The nonpartisan, internet-loving group Census Digitus has an idea: put the Census online. Its website, UnofficialCensus.org, allows people to answer the same question that are on the actual Census form and, starting April 1, see realtime data about the households that submitted. The point, according to the group, is this: "To shame the U.S. Census Office for not having a method of online submission. This is 2010! Even the IRS, whose forms are much more complicated, allows online submission." Touché.

Of course, no one's advocating that the Census be conducted entirely online. Wide swaths of the population still aren't online, including portions of the elderly, those in rural populations without reliable internet service and, again, many homeless individuals. But allowing people to choose between entering their Census data on the internet or on paper mailed back to the Census Bureau could be one way to help close the gap. Think of the millions the recession has uprooted through evictions, motel-living and emergency shelters. Think of young people just old enough to get their own apartments but so reliant on digital communication that they don't know the price of a stamp. These people want to be counted, even if it means a trip to the library.

Photo credit: laffy4k

Josie Raymond has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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