The Census Experience

Written by Nikki Wright

The US Constitution mandates that every ten years the government conducts a census of its citizens. The information is used to redraw governmental districts and, if necessary, reapportion the number of congressional seats on the federal, state, county, and city level. The primary aim is to make sure each congressional district has as close to the same number of citizens as possible.

My Experience working with the 2020 census

For four months I was fortunate to work in the Memphis office of the 2020 Census, and I got an up-close and personal view of hardworking, conscientious people working under difficult and stressful circumstances.

Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons — *Photo taken from* *Wikimedia Commons*

This year’s census had to be carried out with two particular challenges. First, unlike in other years, the 2020 Census was fraught with politicization from the Trump Administration attempting—and succeeding—to shorten the time spent counting people. The 2010 Census delivered its count to President Obama on December 21, 2010. Enumeration for the 2020 Census was over on October 15.

The census also had to be conducted despite the COVID pandemic, which made enumeration especially difficult.

How the census works

The population was offered the opportunity to reply to the census online; about sixty percent of the population did so. That information went straight to Washington D.C. Each local census office’s responsibility was to follow-up on those who did not respond either online or with the paper pamphlets issued earlier in the year. This follow-up phase of the operation commenced on July 16 all over the country and ended on October 15.

In order to follow up with non-respondents, enumerators were hired, received about twenty hours of training, were required to pass a test, were given a specialized iPhone and paperwork to track information, then were sent door to door to neighborhoods to interview non-respondents. Each day the enumerators were given assignments via their phone as well as a time frame in which to complete them. If no one was home, the enumerator would leave a notice and would try again another day.

Roadblocks along the way

As one might expect in this time of distrust, many people were suspicious of a stranger knocking on their door. Some homes were welcoming, others were uncooperative, and still others were downright hostile. Many people would not answer the door. A few enumerators were chased off the property with firearms. Those who did not wish to cooperate had to be counted too, as is the law, and enumerators and their supervisors would devise ways to enumerate everyone without gathering personal information, such as noting how many vehicles were parked at the home.

The goal of the enumeration operation was to count 100% homes. The country estimates that it counted 99.9%. The Memphis office counted 99.9% as well.

Was personal information and data protected?

Enumerators and those in the office, where I worked, were extremely careful to protect individual information, such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. Social Security numbers were never collected and were immediately destroyed if those enumerated gave them. Large locked bins were placed around the office, and every piece of paper not absolutely necessary for the conduct of operations, including scrap paper, went into them to be shredded. Workers were also reminded at regular intervals that not only was keeping or using personal information grounds for immediate dismissal, there were fines and prison sentences imposed for such offenses, too. In other words, they were serious.

Today, with Big Data and others watching everything we do, it was somewhat comforting to know that at least one branch of the government did take the responsibility of handling this information seriously.

Non-traditional populations

The most interesting part of the operation was the enumeration of non-traditional populations: prisons, nursing homes, jails, motels, marinas, RV parks, halfway houses, hospitals, residential mental health programs. These facilities were requested to enumerate their populations by various means, including a listing of all residents or merely a headcount as of April 1, the official Enumeration Day. For these facilities enumerators usually left actually counting heads to the facility management, some of whom were cooperative, and some of whom were not. At times they had to be reminded that giving information was the law. One prison warden had to be reminded of this.

Another non-traditional population counted were the homeless. Soup kitchens, mobile meal facilities and other transitory facilities estimated numbers and gave their information to enumerators, and over one twenty-four hour period, the same period all over the country, teams of enumerators visited known tent cities and overpasses overnight to count people.

COVID’s Impact

COVID impacted operations significantly. All enumerators and office personnel were required to wear masks at all times. Enumerators were equipped with masks and hand sanitizer at a time when hand sanitizer was still hard to come by. Enumerators were required to stand a good distance apart from those who answered the door, and non-traditional facilities, especially nursing homes, often had to make special arrangements for enumerators to acquire the information. The pandemic impacted recruitment for the enumerator positions; many people did not want to work under those conditions, and the office had a great deal of difficulty keeping enumerators in the field. Recruiting and training, sometimes frantic, continued until the very last week of the operation.

The 2030 Census...

My colleagues were retirees, retired military, stay at home and working moms, those between jobs, and college students on summer break. Many of them had worked for the 2010 Census. A few “threepeats” had worked for the 2000 Census as well.

Everyone I had the privilege of working with strived to conduct a successful operation during difficult times. I learned much, and I’d do it again. You can too, in 2030.