To all Vermont Residents: It is a disturbing fact that, with less than 50 percent self-responses, Vermont currently has one of the lowest census response rates in the country. The national census is a Constitutional requirement, and while the COVID-19 pandemic has added challenges, the census must be completed.
The politics in this country might be highly polarized, but an accurate census count of Vermonters is something we should all agree is necessary.
Here are three big reasons for you to complete your census form if you have not yet done so:
1. Your census response is valuable. Census numbers identify the federal allocations that support schools, hospitals, roads, and other critical services. For Vermont, each adult counted in the census generates approximately $4,000 in funding for the state. That is $4,000 per year for 10 years.
Further, our state and town governments make better-informed decisions when they are based on accurate census results. In short, your completion of the census improves the quality of life in Vermont. Please complete your census.
2. Your census response is secure. By law, data collected by the census bureau cannot be shared with other government agencies; not with law enforcement, not with immigration, not with housing authorities. Please complete your census.
3. Your response is easy to submit. For the first time this year, you can complete your entire census response online. Just go to 2020Census.gov or call 844-330-2020.
In the next few weeks, the census bureau will restart its field work of following up on non-responses. If you complete your census form now, you can avoid unneeded visits to your home.
Whether we are Democrat, Republican, a member of another political party, or an independent, we all want Vermont to be a state of healthy families and communities. Your participation in the census is valuable, secure, and easy to do. It is also good for you, and it is good for Vermont.