LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) — According to the U.S. Census Bureau website, around 45 percent of South Carolinians have completed their census report.
The mountainous task of counting every American is written into the Constitution and done every 10 years.
“We need to be able to get more parks, to get more roads funded, we need to be able to fund our schools properly,” said Evan Freeman, president of the Indian Land Action Council. “And the only way that’s going to happen is if people show up and they send their census forms back.”
According to the US Census Bureau website, 56 percent of the population in York County submitted their census report, 54 percent in Lancaster County and 44.5 percent in Chester County.
“Every state wants to keep pace with the national response rate,” said Marilyn Stephens with the U.S. Census Bureau. “Once you tell South Carolinians that the national response rate is at 51 percent and we’re at 45 percent, we’ve got to put our pedal to the metal and bring our response rate up.”
Stephens says a 45 percent this far into the census is not a bad response rate, but they need that number to be at 100 percent. Because of COVID-19, the deadline was extended to October.
“We have to make sure that we have a great response, so that we get all the money that we need and we don’t leave resources on the table,” Stephens said.
