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Census Workers in Athens' Neighborhoods Collecting Data

Beginning this week, Census workers will start going door-to-door in the effort to make sure Athenians participate.

An earlier deadline has the ACC government and other agencies working to get more residents counted. The White House moved the deadline up from October 31st to September 30.

FC-CIS- Executive Director Tim Johnson is a co-chair on the Census Complete Count Committee of Athens, which is aimed getting people to respond, especially those that are traditionally undercounted.

“Minority groups and low-income groups and rural areas are the ones that are hurt the most by this action because those are the groups are least likely to have responded in advance,” according to Johnson.

He says while many have concerns regarding sharing their information, the Census is safe.

“It’s safer than your bank account information. There’s actually now a federal law that if an employee of the Census ever discloses any information about any individual responding to the Census to anybody else, even the White House or another federal agency, they are subject to a $250,000 fine for each violation and time in prison.”

Clarke County had about a 57% response rate, lagging behind both the rest of the state and nation.

The pandemic has caused delays in workers going door-to-door. You can thake the Census online atmy 2020 census.gov.

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