With just over a month to go, Arizonans are responding to the U.S. census at a rate near the bottom of the national pack.
And that could affect everything from federal aid to whether the state gets another seat in the U.S. House.
New figures from the Census Bureau show that 60.9% in Arizona have returned their questionnaire, whether online or by mail. Even with census workers following up by going to homes where people didn’t respond, the rate is just 68.8%.
Only three states have lower percentages: Georgia, New Mexico and South Carolina.
This comes despite $1.2 million the Governor’s Office put into grassroots and paid media efforts to drive up the response. Gov. Doug Ducey pumped in another $600,000 aimed at increasing the response rate among tribal communities, rural areas “and other traditionally undercounted communities.”
The state has redoubled its efforts, with everything from a new round of radio ads to having census trackers set up stands in front of Food City grocery stores, said Alec Thomson, the governor’s director of strategic initiatives and campaigns.
But time is running out.
The original plan was to have census takers in the field through the end of July.
Then, with the COVID-19 outbreak and the inability to get census takers out on the streets, that was extended through the end of October. But now the agency wants everything done by the end of September.
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“I think what you have happening in Arizona is somewhat of a perfect storm,” Thomson said, citing delays in the field operations that created problems particularly in tribal and rural areas.
Urban areas are doing better, with a 64.8% total self-response rate in both Pima and Maricopa counties compared with the 60.9% statewide figure. Yavapai County is only slightly further behind at 63.4%.
But in Navajo County just 30.5% of people either returned the forms or responded online. Apache County’s 20.7% response rate was even worse.
Reservations present a unique situation, and some are refusing to open up to census workers to do in-person follow-up visits, Thomson said. For the same reason, he said, New Mexico also has a response rate below average.
“The in-person part of this was key for Arizona, is key for Arizona,” Thomson said.
There’s also the possibility that those in the state who are not here legally may be reticent to respond, whether directly or to a census worker coming to the door, even with the Trump administration withdrawing its bid to not count them, and even with assurances that anything someone tells a census taker will remain confidential.
Thomson figures that every 1% missed translates out to $60 million a year in lost federal dollars, which are doled out on a population basis. Multiply that times a decade, the time until the next census, and that’s $600 million in foregone revenues for each percentage short.
Put another way, Thomson said, each counted person brings in about $3,000 a year.
It’s not just money at stake, but also political power.
In a report late last year, Election Data Services concluded the shift in population from the Northeast to the South and West should pretty much guarantee that Arizona will pick up a 10th seat in the U.S. House after the decennial census. The organization’s Kimball Brace said that’s because Arizona is adding residents at a rate faster than much of the rest of the country.
But only official tallies by the Census Bureau matter.
Here are the most recent facts from the U.S. Census about what Hispanics —the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority— represent.
