Census Workers Steaming Toward 2000 Collection Of Addresses, Surnames Has Begun In Rural Northwest

“The Millennium Census.” It’s an epic adventure, coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

In fact, if you live in one of the rural portions of the Inland Northwest, this decennial blockbuster of a head count may already have arrived.

About 1,200 U.S. Census Bureau workers are roaming the back roads of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska and Northern California to verify addresses where census forms will be mailed in March 2000.

The process is called “address listing,” said Mike Burns, assistant census manager for the Northwest region. The Census Bureau wants to know where people live, and they don’t live in the post office boxes where many rural residents receive their mail.

Agents in Eastern Washington and North Idaho have been working out of offices in Moses Lake and Coeur d’Alene for three weeks. Burns said the work should take about three more weeks to complete.

Census workers have encountered no anti-government hostility that might have been expected in some remote, rural areas, Burns said.

“They were very nice, actually,” he said. “They didn’t give us any problem at all. I was kind of surprised; I thought there would be some anti-government stuff.”

Agents are asking rural residents their surnames, the name of the homeowner or renter and the address. Residents are given Privacy Act notices that promise all the information will remain confidential.

A similar process of verifying urban addresses - called “block canvassing” - will begin next year in a wave that will start in Northern California in January and reach the Spokane area March 1.

To get ready for the block canvassing, offices will be opened in October in Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma. The Spokane office will handle central and Eastern Washington and all of Idaho.

After urban addresses are verified, the next chapter in the epic roundup will be a survey of “special places” in January 2000. Census workers will visit nursing homes, college dorms, migrant worker camps, monasteries and convents, jails, mental institutions and homeless shelters in search of people who might otherwise be missed.

Not until the third week of March 2000 will the regular census surveys be mailed. The questionnaires will come with instructions to return them promptly if you don’t want a tap on the shoulder from an irritated uncle named Sam. As in the Roman Empire, participation in the U.S. census is mandatory.

The census collects a wealth of statistical information in addition to the head count that determines the boundaries of political districts. The information is used for everything from corporate marketing decisions to formation of social policy.

Statistical questions vary from census to census as society changes from one decade to another.

New this time will be a question about who is the primary caregiver for any children in a household, Burns said. The idea is to identify demographic changes such as a possible trend toward grandparents raising children.

The most important trend politicians will be watching is the movement of voters from one area to another. When district boundaries are adjusted to account for the shifts, incumbent politicians may lose their jobs and openings may be created for newcomers. The outcome may help one political party and hurt another.

So politicians are concerned about a proposal to have the Census Bureau use “integrated coverage” to count people it can’t find.

In the past, surveys have estimated the number of homeless and other hard-to-find people who weren’t counted. But the estimates haven’t been included in the official census totals.

“Some people think we should and some people think we shouldn’t,” Burns said.

He conceded the people who like the idea tend to be Democrats, while those who don’t tend to be Republicans.

Democrats suspect the homeless people who get overlooked by the census live in Democratic strongholds that would benefit from using estimates. Republicans may suspect the same thing.

“At the moment, I couldn’t care less,” Burns said. “I just want a decision to be made.”

Whatever is decided, the Census Bureau must deliver a report by Dec. 31, 2000, for apportionment of congressional representatives among the states. Then, by April 2001, the bureau must deliver a block-by-block breakdown - a daunting task even if rural “blocks” may be as big as a couple of square miles.

“It’s phenomenal,” Burns said. “There are over 6 million blocks in the United States.”

John Craig can be reached at 459-5429 or by e-mail at johnc@spokesman.com.

At your door Census Bureau workers who go door to door have identification badges they are required to display if asked. Anyone who has concerns may call (888) 806-5878 toll-free for verification. Choose “prompt 3” to contact an area manager.