The online census form is easy to fill out and is available in 13 languages. If you don’t have the 12-digit Census ID mailed to you in March, click on the link below the log-in and answer the questions to receive one.
April 1 is Census Day this year. That’s the day the U.S. Census Bureau has designated as the official day to count the number of people living in your household. It’s also a day being overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic that has 80 percent of the nation under stay-at-home orders.
Field operations have been suspended for two weeks to April 16 due to the virus. Originally, census takers were scheduled to go into nursing homes, senior centers, prisons, and facilities that house large groups of people April 1-15. The COVID-19 pandemic has made that impossible. The new timeline is April 16-June 19.
As mandated by Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, a census of U.S. residents is taken every 10 years. The first census was conducted in 1790. The information is used to draw congressional and legislative district boundaries and distribute government funds. Every person over 18 years of age, whether a citizen of the country or not, is required to fill out the survey. Fines for those who refuse run up to $100. Giving false information could result in a fine of up to $500.
Forms can be filled out online for the first time ever or mailed in. Anyone who doesn’t respond by late May will be visited by a census taker knocking at their door sometime over the summer. Home visits were originally scheduled to occur May 27-August 14.
The deadline for delivering the final count to the president is December 31, 2020. Redistricting counts will be sent to the states by March 31, 2021.
To file your census information online, click here. The form only takes a few minutes to fill out. If you have received a form in the mail, use the Census ID number to make online filing even easier.
