Census Day falls on April Fools’ Day next year, a possible portent of concerns that the census count be taken seriously by the counted — as much as $1,958 stands to be lost in California for every person who fails to be counted in the 2020 Census — and that’s for every one of the 10 years until the next census. An undercount has political consequences as well, including possibly losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and the redrawing of district boundaries.
The greatest issue for the census is trust, said Dennis Bozanich, deputy county CEO: trust that the information residents give stays secure and trust that it will not rebound on an undocumented person. Families living together in an overcrowded home have to trust the information won’t reach their landlord, he pointed out. Supervisor Gregg Hart noted that the census count is hard in the best of times, but much harder when people are legitimately afraid.
To engage county residents, the 92 members of the Complete Count Committee were working with churches, schools, community organizations, and other groups trusted by the Spanish- and Mixtec-speaking communities, Bozanich said. The county would set up a Spanish-English website on October 15 with the slogan “Todos Contamos / We All Count.” QAC-Ks, or Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Kiosks, will go up around March, likely targeting hard-to-count areas like Santa Barbara’s lower Westside, the outskirts of Lompoc and Santa Maria, and Isla Vista.