By CANDY NEAL
cneal@dcherald.com

Local committees that are working to get people to fill out the 2020 Census will ramp up online efforts this weekend.

Friday through Sunday will be the census’ social media blitz. The three local Complete Count Committees — Jasper, Huntingburg and Dubois County — will post signs, messages and videos online to encourage others to complete the form.

“We aim to count everyone accurately while we support efforts to protect the health and safety of the American public and the Census Bureau team,” a Census spokesman said.

With that, census officials are trying to make as few door visits as possible. A household receives letters and notes encouraging completing the form online or by telephone. If that isn’t done, a census field representative will go to the residence to get the form filled out. That normally starts in May; but because of the coronavirus, that is being postponed until August.

Census officials are emailing random people questions about COVID-19 to get an idea of how the pandemic is affecting them. This information does not affect the census count, the spokesman said.

So far, 69.8% of Dubois County households have filled out their 2020 Census forms, making the county the 33rd highest in the nation and first in the state.

But there is still 30.2% of households that have not yet filled out the form.

Among the county’s incorporated communities, Ferdinand has the highest response rate, at 72.1%. Jasper is next, at 70.2%, then Holland, 60.9%, Huntingburg, 56.5%, and Birdseye, 55%.

Madison has the highest response rate among the county’s townships, with 80.8% of the households completing the form. The other townships’ response rates, from highest to lowest, are: Hall, 79.8%; Jackson, 77.6%; Ferdinand, 76.0%; Boone, 75.9%; Harbison, 72.0%; Cass, 70.0%; Bainbridge, 69.9%; Jefferson, 67.8%; Marion, 66.8%; Columbia, 62.4%; and Patoka, 60.0%.

Percentages for counties surrounding Dubois are: Crawford, 45.9%; Daviess, 60.8%; Martin, 55.6%; Orange, 52.1%; Perry, 57%; Pike, 61.6%; Spencer, 60.2%; and Warrick, 65.7%.
Indiana’s response rate is 58.6%. Nationwide, 54.3% percent of households have completed the form.

To complete the census online, go to 2020census.gov. If you do not have a census ID number, select “If you do not have a Census ID” at the beginning of the questionnaire to enter your household address.

To complete the census by phone, call 844-330-2020 for English or 844-468-2020 for Spanish.

“It’s not too late to respond to the 2020 Census while being safe and practicing social distancing at home,” the spokesman said. “Once you have responded, please encourage your family, friends, and loved ones to complete the census, too.”