Nye commissioner decries lack of Census participation

Nye County Commission Chairman John Koenig is disappointed in the 2020 census response rate for Nye County and he had no qualms about urging area residents to take a few minutes of their time to participate in the process that will determine where billions of federal dollars are channeled.

“The census (deadline) is coming up. Nye County is lagging badly. While you’re sitting at home, like you should be, I need you to get on your little computers, get on the census website and do the census. It’s really quick, it’ll take you five minutes,” Koenig told the community during the commission’s April 7 meeting.

Residents can fill out the census online by visiting www.my2020census.gov

For those who do not have computer access, it can also be completed over the phone by calling 844-330-2020 for English or 844-468-2020 for Spanish. Census representatives are able to take calls to these lines from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific time, seven days per week.

The census can be returned by mail as well, using the paper questionnaire and envelope provided to households over the last few weeks. If a resident has misplaced their return envelope they can mail the questionnaire to U.S. Census Bureau, National Processing Center, 1201 E. 10th Street, Jeffersonville, IN, 47132.

“It’s very important,” Koenig reiterated. “Nye County needs the money, Nevada needs the money. If we don’t do it, we’re going to be in a bigger world of hurt than we’re going to be in now with everything shut down. So please, go do your census.”

As of Thursday, April 9, Nye County had seen a self-response rate of 31.1 percent, just seven percent more than had responded as of census day on April 1.

That means a large proportion of the county’s population, almost 70 percent, has yet to be counted in the 2020 census and if those households do not respond by April 30, census enumerators will begin knocking on their doors at the end of May in an attempt to gather that missing data. In a time when people tend to find a surprise knock on the door aggravating, the easiest way to avoid that source of irritation is to fill out the questionnaire before the deadline on April 30.

For every person who is not counted, Nevada stands to lose $2,000 per year for a 10-year period or a total of $20,000 for every uncounted Nevadan over the next decade.

“It is essential that every Nevadan is counted in the 2020 census to ensure that the federal government is meeting our needs,” the Nevada census website states. “There is more than $675 billion in federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities based on census data. That funding goes toward our schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs. Nevada has experienced a population boom in recent years, which is why it’s more important that each and every Nevadan be counted. Nevada will rely on the 2020 census to determine funding needs for infrastructure projects, economic development programs, job training, schools and other activities for the next decade.”

Money is not the only thing at stake when it comes to the 2020 census, either. Political representation, a cornerstone of the American way of life, is also determined using the data collected during the decennial process.

The power of each state could shift in 2021 as a result of population changes shown by the 2020 census, with the number of U.S. House of Representative seats to be calculated using the new census numbers. Ensuring proper representation for Nevada at the federal level is another reason residents should take a few minutes of their time to respond to the census questionnaire. Local political district boundaries could see changes as well, with legislative districts set to be redrawn based on the 2020 census data.

Response rates around the rest of Nevada are varied, with Esmeralda County’s percentage coming in at an incredibly low 1.7 percent, the lowest in the state, and Churchill County coming in at 51.8 percent, the highest in the state, as of April 9. Details on the self-response rates for each county as well as the census process can be found online at www.census.nv.gov

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com