The task of ensuring a complete Census count in Vermont just got harder due to a perfect storm of self-imposed goals, a federal timeline and Covid-19.
The state is currently ranked 47 out of 52 (the Census also includes Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.) in its response rate, meaning it has one of the lowest rates in the country.
As the state’s response rate hovers around 56%, the timeline to finish collecting data was just shortened by a new federal deadline to end all in-person visits to unresponsive homes by the end of September.
Jason Broughton, the state librarian and chair of the Vermont Complete Count Committee, said at the outset, he wanted Vermont’s 2020 Census response rate to surpass 2010’s 60.3% level.
“Before March, we were in the low 30s as far as a percentage [response rate],” he said. “Look at it now … we are now at 56.4%. And the beauty of that is the week before we were at 54.9%. So in the last couple of days, we’ve begun to incrementally move rather quickly.”
Broughton said while the goal of surpassing the state’s past Census response rate may seem arbitrary, it’s not.
“If you don’t get it right or there are mistakes and things can’t be tabulated correctly, you will be locked into the funding and your representation for the next 10 years,” Broughton said. “It impacts the federal funding response, even in unexpected times, you’re locked into [that funding].”
The new end of September deadline to complete in-person door knocking could alter the Vermont Complete Count Committee’s plan.
From a national standpoint, the country’s current total response rate is just below 63%, which is a victory, said regional Census Bureau Director Jeff Behler.
“The Census Bureau predicted they would be at a 60.5% self-response rate at the time we started knocking on doors [back in March],” he said. “Currently we’re just below 63%. So we’re ahead of that, which to me is amazing, given Covid-19.”
In Vermont, Chittenden County is leading the state’s responses with a rate of about 72%.
Breaking that number down further, Essex Junction and Underhill have surpassed the response rate of Burlington, Behler said.
At the bottom end of the state’s response rate sits Essex County with a 36.1% response rate.
Added to Covid-19 challenges, there were preexisting problems in Vermont, specifically, the large hard to count population in the state, Broughton said.
That population is broken down into smaller groups in Vermont that include children under 5, the elderly, migratory youth, homeless people, people of color, Native Americans and a contingent of people who don’t trust the government, he said.
“The last group that is considered hard to count, are those who distrust the government, at all levels. That can go across the spectrum of people,” Broughton said. “So the challenges of that in addition to Covid-19 makes those counts very difficult.”
To help make sure these hard to count groups are included, Broughton said the committee has worked with community networks to ensure the census reaches the right people.
For example, the Complete Count Committee has worked closely with Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, to help work with Abenaki in Vermont to make sure they get counted, Broughton said.
In Vermont, in-person information gathering has resumed in the form of Mobile Questionnaire Assistance Events as well as Census workers beginning to restart door knocking on unresponsive homes.
For the first time in Census history, people can fill out the Census online, on the phone or in-person if a representative visits your home.
