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Delaware Census Commission in final push to ensure everyone is counted

The U.S. Census Bureau
Census Takers are now allowed to head out into neighborhoods and knock on doors

The First State is pushing hard to ensure Delawareans are not undercounted in this year’s census.

 

The Delaware Complete Count Commision is urging people to ensure they are counted in the 2020 census.

 

Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long reminded people on Tuesday that the deadline to complete the census has been cut short, the government has until the end of September to finish the count and begin preparing the results.

 

She reminds people of the loss Delaware has experienced from an undercount in the last census.

 

“We lose money, and we need your help. If you look at this figure, we lose an estimated ten million dollars a year if we use the former census data from 2010. That has accumulated to up to $100 million. So again, to our roads, our transportation, our school lunch money, our healthcare. So please, don’t be undercounted. When you undercount, we lose out.”

 

She adds it’s easy to complete the census, you can fill it out online in 6 minutes at census dot gov, mail back the form, or even call in. She says it’s important to note that the census is a snapshot of who was living in your household back on April 1st.

 

Hall-Long says it’s been more difficult to do the outreach the state has done in past census years.

 

“And you know governor, we had over 300 events planned, we haven’t been able to go out. So we’re gonna need you, you’re gonna see, as I already mentioned, the high investment in dollars in Delaware, our political districts and our funding for our social services are so important.”

 

The deadline for the Census Bureau is September 30th, meaning there's only a month left for the state to ensure that they count everyone.

 

Hall-Long says she’s counting on folks to make sure they’ve filled out their census form, either online, by mail or over the phone.

 

They’ve also been able to send out census takers over the past two weeks and hope to continue to do so till the September 30th deadline.

Roman Battaglia grew up in Portland, Ore, and now reports for Delaware Public Media as a Report For America corps member. He focuses on politics, elections and legislation activity at the local, county and state levels.
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