CLEVELAND, Ohio — Millions of people have looked into the future for the Census Bureau. Their prediction? They’ll be alive April 1.
Questionnaires that arrived in mailboxes last week asked for a household headcount as of April 1 — labeled National Census Day — on the 2010 calendar. Thirteen percent of respondents across America filled out the census form and returned it as of Tuesday to become part of the once-a-decade population tabulation.
View full sizeAPThe early birds obviously don’t expect a change in the status quo before the month ends. Officially, they’ll be right.
Information entered on completed surveys stands even if supplied residency numbers go up or down because of births, deaths or unexpected relocations: “Once the envelope is sealed and mailed to us, we open it and record what’s in there,” said Kim Hunter, a census spokesman for the region that includes Ohio.
The questionnaire used to arrive on or after the April 1 “reference date” established as of 1930, but the agency started an earlier mailing given the task of tallying more than 300 million people in a short period of time. A final count must hit the president’s desk by Dec. 31, Hunter said.
Changes that might occur in the two-week window between the form’s arrival and April 1 are “relatively inconsequential” in the overall process, he said. Many Americans also delay doing the census paperwork and end up writing in their information in April, which takes the guesswork out of who lived where at the start of that month.
Eleven percent of the questionnaires shipped to Ohio addresses were mailed back as of Tuesday, according to tracking information updated daily at 2010.census.gov. Portage County residents led the way locally with a 14 percent return rate, followed by Medina County at 12 percent and Summit County at 10 percent.
Only 4 percent of Cuyahoga County’s forms were back, and Cleveland’s submission rate stood at 2 percent. Everyone else, it seems, doesn’t want to take April 1 for granted.
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