‘A civic responsibility’: What you need to know about the 2020 US Census
Get ready South Carolinians: The 2020 United States Census is heading your way this coming spring.
As required by the United States Constitution, the census has taken place every decade since 1790 with the aim of keeping track of how many people live in the United State and a variety of other demographic information important to policymaking in a democratic republic.
And with South Carolina rapidly growing each year, getting this information right is particularly important when determining the future of the state.
“If you’re from Horry County, you know how fast we’re growing. That makes it all the more important we get a correct and complete count of how many people are actually here,” said Horry County Planning Director David Schwerd.
There are three ways you can answer the survey: complete and return the one mailed to you, fill it out online or complete it over the phone.
The survey will be distributed March 2020, with Census Day being observed on April 1.
US Census Director Steven Dillingham said the census is very straight forward with basic questions about age, race, ethnicity. A Supreme Court decision said a question about immigration status will not be on the census.
Mailed census materials can be made available in English and Spanish, census phone banks can converse in 13 languages and written material can be provided in 59 languages.
If you don’t respond on your own, a census worker will be sent to your door to ask you to fill out the survey sometime during June through July. This process is necessary to fulfill the constitutional mandate to have a complete census, but it also costs taxpayer dollars.
Dillingham said for every person who doesn’t answer the census about $100 is spent sending someone to knock on their door.
In total, the process of gathering responses will be over by July. In 2010, 71 percent of Horry County and 75 percent of South Carolina filled out the census.
People will be hired for part-time jobs to knock on doors and help get responses from as many people as possible. College students, retirees or anyone looking for temporary work is encouraged to apply. Visit 2020census.gov/jobs for an application.
In addition, Horry County Schools, government, churches and other community institutions will partner with the census to make sure as many people as possible fill out the census.
“The only way you can count the people is to have the support of the local groups, organizations and government,” Dillingham said. “It is a civic responsibility to answer the census.”
The individual information from survey responses is only accessed by special census department workers and is not shared with anyone else in the private or public sector.
The data helps determine voting districts, amount of representatives to Congress and can change government funding given to regions.
It also helps local officials account and make plans for population growth, and it can influence business decisions, like determining if Myrtle Beach’s population is large enough to support a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
The census’ findings will be made available to everyone in 2021.
“I really think it’s the most used data in the country and maybe even the world,” Dillingham said.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 8:00 AM.
