Census Bureau readies for face-to-face campaign

Web posted April 4, 2000

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By Clarissa J. Walker
Staff Writer

All of the census forms that were returned by April 1 have been tallied, and the results are disappointing, local coordinators said Monday.

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The Richmond County census office is bracing itself for the door-to-door operation during which workers will try to collect the more-than-45,000 forms Augustans haven't returned yet.

``Now, it's going to be labor intensive,'' said John Harlan, local census office manager.

Augusta officials had hoped for the return of 68 percent of the forms but have received only 47 percent so far.

The nonresponse follow-up operation will be conducted from April 30 through early July.

The local office has used half of its $500,000 budget, Richmond County's share of the $5 billion national budget for Census 2000.

``Initially, when we opened up the (Augusta) office, we anticipated hiring about 700 people to go out in this final operation. The figure now is pushing 1,100,'' Mr. Harlan said.

For Augusta, the U.S. Census office set a goal of 68 percent for forms to be returned by mail. The same goal was set for the state, and a more ambitious 70 percent return goal was set for the 115 million forms sent out nationwide.

With its 56 percent response rate, Columbia County hasn't reached its 74 percent goal either.

``We will make six attempts per address,'' Mr. Harlan said. ``If people are not feeling that sense of civic duty, then we have to go the extra mile and hand deliver it to them.''

Reach Clarissa J. Walker at (706) 828-3851.