NEW ORLEANS— By now you should have gotten a pretty good idea of the importance of the 2020 Census. We talked to Michael C. Cook Sr. of the U.S. Census Bureau about what’s at stake for Louisiana.
Cook Said, “At the state level, it affects the Electoral College. It affects the redrawing of districts, congressional districts, voting boundaries, and school districts. It’s the invaluable federal dollars that flow down to the local level on an annual basis.”
Big money is at stake! A reported 1.5 trillion dollars, and with only two weeks left, we’ve got work to do. The national response rate is 89.4%. New Orleans has a current response rate of only 56.9%.
“You can do that one of 3 ways. You can either go online to 2020census.gov, you can use that census ID that’s left at your doorstep. If you don’t answer the call or don’t answer the door knock, you can just go and call one of our 13 call centers and get that information taken over the phone or mail back that questionnaire that we’ve mailed back to you,” said Cook.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled against a citizenship question appearing on this census, but with a considerable immigrant population as like in New Orleans, some might be reluctant to fill out the forms.
Cook offered this, “Title 13 of the U.S. Code actually guides and protects the data that we collect. The information that we collect about you, about the individual, can’t be shared with anyone. It’s only collected for statistical purposes. No other enforcement agencies, ICE, housing authorities. We don’t share that information with anyone.”
You can fill out the 2020 Census online by clicking here
You can also reach the U.S. Census by phone at 844-330-2020
