How many times have census workers come to your door?

[NameAlreadyTaken]

We filled out the census online when it first went online last spring. We thought that was the end of it. But in the last 4 months, we have had 6 different census workers knock on our door.
We explain each time that other census workers were here before and got the information. But they all say they don't have data for our address. They have hand-held devices about the size of phones, which they type in the data to as they ask you the questions.
They all ask the same exact set of questions. What is going on? Where did the data go that we entered online? Where did the data go from each of these workers who came to our door? Why do they have to come back?
We are unfortunate to live in Trumpland (rural Nevada) and we are wondering if rural and/or conservative areas are purposely being overcounted.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. It happens

especially in rural areas that may not have been entered into GPS properly in the first place.

[marlakay]

2. I filled it out online last spring

Heard from no one since then, saw no one. I figured because of covid. I live in a court easy to see who doesn't belong here, I am retired and home most of the time now. In southern Oregon.

[peggysue2]

26. That's my experience

Filled out the form and have heard nothing in terms of followup. I have a receipt that I've kept in my files to prove that I indeed did file. But beyond that? Nada.

[Karma13612]

32. Rural Northern

NY-21 here.

Rest of story nearly exactly the same.

[Laelth]

3. Same for me and my daughter in rural East Texas.

We filled out the census online, and, since that time, we have had two census workers come by and ask us that same battery of questions arguing that they have no census information for our address.

I don’t know what’s going on, but it is somewhat disconcerting.



-Laelth

[VarryOn]

4. three times...

and that's after we completed the online questionnaire. The last time I was kind of pissy with her. My assumption is my wife and I have been counted 3 times. As they say "good enough for government work."

[MiniMe]

5. None

I filled it out online. I live outside of DC.

[muntrv]

6. None.

[Demsrule86]

7. We did ours online.

[Mossfern]

8. Filled my form out on line

no census worker has come to my house.

[Sherman A1]

9. Zero

I did see them walk the neighborhood but we were passed by, having done it online.

[Trumpocalypse]

22. FYI

[hopeforchange2008]

10. My sister has had more than one at a time

She's in rural-ish Maine. She and her husband were trying to get rid of one when another one arrived. She, too, had submitted the data on line early on.

One guy traveled three hours to descend on her.

[Chili]

11. no visits, but they nagged the heck out of me by mail

I was getting 2-3 "census is mandatory!" letters every week until I finally said OKAY for God's sake!

I had every intention of doing it, as I have every 10 years, but I just hadn't gotten to it yet. Did it online. Letters stopped immediately.

[Nay]

12. None. I filled ours out way back then, too. No one has come to ask more questions. nt

[doc03]

13. Never. nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. Census worker here. When Census workers come to the door, they're either checking houses that have

not turned anything in, or they are serving as QA by performing a double-check on households that have turned forms in. Multiple visits are not uncommon, although six is quite a bit. But with so much work being done online for the first time, it doesn't surprise me that you're getting multiple visits. The process isn't always efficient, but you are not being counted multiple times -- you're just being checked.

[marked50]

24. This has been my experience. A very nice fellow too. Wished him safety as

this is a rural area near the National Forests and bears and all and it was getting past dusk.

[CentralMass]

15. I had a vist, they left the notice in my door. I entered the information online and have gotten

multiple letters since.

[Ms. Toad]

16. None.

We filled it out online. No one has shown up.

[hunter]

17. For the 1990 census a worker knocked on our door asking about a neighbor.

Our neighbor had told them to go away, not politely, before she slammed the door.

I told the census worker our neighbor lived with her adult son, her adult daughter, and a granddaughter.

I felt weird about that but when I told our neighbor's children they were not upset. More than anyone else they knew their mom was paranoid alcoholic.

Is that the way the census is supposed to work?

[sakabatou]

18. Zero

[cwydro]

19. None.

[BComplex]

20. None.

I did mine online way back at the beginning.

[Baked Potato]

21. None, and we got tapped for both long and short versions.

[Raine]

23. One ... they put a paper on my porch months ago, never came back. nt

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

25. zero for me. but 1 to check on the vacant apt next door.

i keep meaning to do it online, but i havent. kinda couldnt believe the guy asked about the place next door, but didnt ask if i had been counted.

[not_the_one]

28. WTF are you waiting for?

They were supposed to stop then census surveying in three days, but now have a month extension.

If you have another month are you STILL going to wait until the last minute?

It makes no sense. Maybe you shouldn't be counted, but you really wouldn't care, would you? But I bet you WOULD complain, when you felt you had been slighted or ignored in some way DUE to the census.

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

38. i have been incredibly sick, that's why.

multiple organs on the verge of failure. so, yeah. i have an excuse.
getting it under control, but have barely kept myself and my animals alive all summer.

dont be so judgy.

[Karma13612]

33. Maybe you weren't

Aware that the census is used for district apportionment ?
Being on a political site, I know that probably is important to you?

Git ‘er done son, or gal!

We all thank you.

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

39. see my answer above. sick.

but completely aware.

[Totally Tunsie]

27. Twice, after I submitted online at the very beginning.

I live in a building where the apartments are number with either a "Front" or "Rear" designation. The original form sent to me was correct with "Apt. 1F". The census workers are looking for a "1Left" apartment that doesn't exist. I had to phone a number in NY to get them to stop knocking on my door.

[Silent3]

29. I had a weird census worker encounter just a couple of night ago

I have a slightly eccentric habit of often going for long walks in a nearby park late at night when rarely anyone else is there. I walk about a mile from my home to get to the park, passing through a parking next to a gym and a stadium.

When I was walking Thursday night there was a small group of people in the parking lot, wearing vests with reflective safety stripes. A woman in the group was approaching me, but as I had headphones on (I believe I was listening to Rachel Maddow at the time ), I wasn't sure if she was addressing me until I pulled out one earpiece to be able to hear her, and asked if she had been saying something to me.

She said yes, that she was with the census, and asked if I normally walked alone there at that time of night. I told her I did, which she thought surprising and brave (not really, however, since it's a very safe neighborhood), and then she asked if I ever saw encampments out in the park.

As a matter of fact, I had, but not for about a year. One I had seen was deep in a wooded part of the park, maybe a 100 feet or so from the main trail, which I'd only noticed the first time because I caught a glint off a bicycle reflector in the light of my headlamp one night.

The other must have been well known to a lot of people, because it was on the far side of the park, opposite where I live, maybe only about 20 feet from the edge of a parking lot at the outside perimeter of the park, a parking lot with several businesses and a local government agency.

I never reported either encampment, but the one that was so close to the edge of the park must have been known to the police for some time, and I'm guessing that at least for several months they choose to look the other way and not chase the people out.

She was thankful for the information, and personally I think it's cool that they're apparently trying to capture people that might be living in parks as part of their population estimates.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

43. Visiting parks and asking people about local encampments is a big part of in-person Census work.

I hiked miles to check campsites when I worked the Census.

[Xolodno]

30. Once...and it wasn't for us.

Live in a rural area, the house across the street has been empty for the 10 years we've been here. Saw some people before the pandemic there, they were replacing the roof, fixing the place up (it needed it), but now are gone. Basically told him, far as I knew, no one lived there. Like it was a vacation home the family forgot about.

[EarthFirst]

31. We've had three asking about our neighbors...

I kindly respond that we’ve already supplied the information once; and we prefer not to be visited again.

Not sure why they keep sending representatives to our home...

[ProfessorGAC]

34. Zero

I haven't even seen them canvassing around here.
This is the first time since we lived here, but it is possible that our neighborhood was very complete online or mail-in.

[octoberlib]

35. We've had one census worker turn up at our door.

We filled our census out online but she was inquiring about the house next to us which has been sitting empty for a year.

[zackymilly]

36. Post this sign on your door:

Two adults
One child
Three very mean pit bulls

[NameAlreadyTaken]

45. Ha ha

[Codeine]

37. Once, asking about our neighbors.

Our neighbors probably haven’t responded because some of the family are undocumented, and they aren’t answering the door either. Frankly I don’t blame them.

I gave the census dude all the info I knew about how many people are there and ages, relationships, etc. So now they’ve been counted despite all the efforts at intimidation by the Trump administration.

[MissB]

40. Three times

I did ours online shortly after receiving the letter and postcard.

Unfortunately the city changed our address scheme in our neighborhood during the census time frame. We received two letters and two postcards, one set for the existing address and one for the new address. I responded to the census using the (at the time) existing address.

Dh and I aren’t in a hurry to fix our house number, since you can’t see it from the street anyway. So our old house number is on the exterior wall near our front door. Makes for a good visual clue when explaining the new/old number scheme. Their paperwork shows one less digit than the old house number.

Haven’t seen a census worker in weeks. I was polite each time, patiently explaining that yes, we’d responded and our address number had changed. It’s frustrating but they are doing a job that needs to be done. I always thank them for doing just that.

[fescuerescue]

41. Never in my lifetime

[MineralMan]

42. I've seen three census takers on my block.

None have stopped at my house. I filled out the census form on line as soon as it was available. Perhaps our local census takers have better information.

I did notice, though, that they weren't having much success getting people to answer their doorbells. The block I live on in St. Paul, MN is mostly Hmong families. They almost never answer their doorbells if strangers come to the door. I think it's a cultural thing in that community.

[GoCubsGo]

44. Once, prior to the actual census.

After I filled out my census, zero.

[Iggo]

46. None.

But we did ours back in February, after several reminders from the census bureau.

Nobody ever came to our door, though.

People on my SIL’s next door app are complaining about door-knockers asking really dumb questions about the neighbors. “Are they home?” “Do you know where they went?” “Do you know when they’ll be back?” “Do you know how many people are living there?”

Grain of salt, though. It’s the next door app. Could be true. However, them folks have been known to exaggerate.

[LisaL]

47. None.

NT