LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Census Bureau has begun follow-up outreach to residents, including those who have already filled out the decennial census, to ensure everyone has been counted accurately.
About 4 in 10 households have yet to respond to the census nationwide, officials said. Just more than half of Arkansas households — about 870,000 — have responded, according to census data. In 2010, only 62.3% of Arkansas households responded.
The Census Bureau announced Tuesday census-takers will begin typical follow-up on people who haven’t responded yet and to evaluate data collection so far by revisiting households that have completed the survey.
Follow-ups can take the form of phone calls, or census-takers can visit a household that has not responded. Census-takers will be “trained on social distancing protocols,” according to the Census Bureau, and will follow guidelines for using personal protective equipment, which they also will be issued.
The nation’s and Arkansas’ response rates quickly rose to about one-third of all households within the first couple of weeks of mailers being sent out, back in March. They continued to rise through April before plateauing.
Collection of census responses was originally scheduled to end this month, but that date has been extended to Oct. 31 as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The primary data collection method in 2020 is on the internet, although the Census Bureau sent out paper questionnaires in March to people who lived in areas with less reliable internet access, which included most of Arkansas’ geographic areas.
Through Monday, according to census data, only 37.6% of Arkansans who have responded so far did so on the internet, compared with 49.3% nationally.
Arkansas’ current collection rate of 56.6% ranks the state 40th out of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.