Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
Just when I thought all was quiet – back to back visits on March 30th and March 31st with a business card left in door that said “If I didn’t respond by end of month, she (rep) would be hung…please call!”
Now what next?
Lazarus,
That IS pretty sneaky…thanks for filling me in on the inner workings of our esteemed Commerce Dept. My former congressman (as I have moved) Judd Gregg turned down the job offer from Obama – I wonder if it had anything to do with this ACS. He’s generally an involved, caring public servant with a pretty good track record. Can it be we have at least one senator in that loony bin that gets it??
Eight days and counting since last (hopefully) letter was received from Field Rep Supervisor….maybe I’m out of the woods.
Thanks to all posters for giving me the fortitude to hang in. It’s been tough.
Ann-Tagonist
The 2010 census will only be the short form for everyone. See, that is the beauty of the American Community Servey. Only a small number of people get it on a perpetual basis. It reduces the possibility of collective outrage.
Soo many people raised a fit about the long form on the 2000 census that they did way with it. And the ACS was born. The goal is to get more timely data and keep the majority of citizens ignorant of what is going on.
If you ask your neighbors about the ACS they will not know what you are talking about. And so your congressperson gets a few scattered complaints every now and then that they can ignore, instead of hundreds of calls every 10 year census that they must respond to.
Pretty clever, huh?
Thanks Lazarus,
I appreciate the words of advice. It’s been a week since receipt of the letter from the field rep’s supervisor telling me to do “my civic duty” (I paraphrase, of course).
Do you happen to know if the 2010 census will be the long or short form or are we all “randomly” selected for either? I have a feeling I’ll be at the top of their hit list once they determine I didn’t answer the ACS. This could be a long fight for our rights – I hope I have the “constitution” for it (pun intended).
Like you, I have always been an upstanding, good citizen and did indeed answer the 2000 census. But it was nothing like this ACS intrusion on our privacy and much has changed since then which would make us all skeptical of divulging such private info.
Again, thanks and keep up the good fight!
Neither my husband nor myself had even heard about this survey until a few days ago when we received a letter telling us that we had been randomly selected to participate. Today we received the survey and when we noticed the words on the front saying:” YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW” we decided we wouldn’t be participating. This thing is 28 pages long and the questions they ask are noone’s business. Some of these questions my own MOTHER who gave birth to me, raised me , and still calls twice a week wouldn’t even ask. We value our privacy and we won’t be answering or responding to them in any way. I was happy to find this site. At least now we know we’re not alone and what to expect for the next 90 days. I will post what happens next. It will be interesting to see whether or not we will receive any phone calls. We only use skype and have no landline.
There may be a letter threatening a penalty. The penalty has Never been enforced. Ever. And any threatening letter will be carefully worded to say that you ‘could be fined’. And that is true, there is a law on the books mandating that you answer. But there is no mechanisim to enforce that law. The Census Bureau has no law enforcement powers. The word ‘mandatory’ simply means that there is a law (mandate) somewhere.
Beyond the intimidation they have no power. And they aren’t about to cause any trouble before the upcoming 2010 census. Laugh it off but stay mad about it. They left me alone once I made it clear that I knew the game. Didn’t even visit.
I will not participate at all in the 2010 census and I’m going to cite the American Community Survey as the reason that they created me as an enemy.
So ok…2 mailings (to current resident), 15 phone messages (first 1 in which I accidentally answered and said I was not interested in answering these questions), 2 visits by a field rep (did not answer door) and now one last letter (to my name now)…when will this end? I think I’m closing in on 90 days – will a penalty letter be the last clue that I’ve lost all rights as a private American citizen?
I feel harassed and just a little scared of Big Brother now.
To my fellow Americans, Keep up the good work people. Continue to resist and just say a big fat No to the American Community Survey and No to the Census Bureau goons, that harass us all. Remember all, United We Stand, or Divided We Shall Fall! Let us all put the united back in our United States of America, and continue to resist and fight this injustice and harassment, that is being placed upon us by the Census Bureau, in any way we can. Don’t fill out the survey when it comes in the mail, slam the phone down when they call you on the phone, and don’t answer the door when they knock on it. Stand tall, do not fear, resist now, or they will own all of us later, and in the future they will only make it worse for all of us, if we give in and comply now. If we fill out the very intrusive survey and comply, we are only sending our vote to the Census Bureau, that it is perfectly ok to harass, bully, and torment Americans anytime they wish to do so, and for them to collect any personal information on us whenever they deem necessary. Well it is not ok for them to do that. Vote No! resist this nonsense now, or it will only get much worse for Americans in the future. Hey Peace all!
Congradulations Andrew! Great job!
One of these US Census field workers came to my home this morning. What an absolute treat!! I set the tone immediately by producing a digital voice recorder and placing it between us… you come to my door after badgering me through the mail several times, I want the conversation archived. He seemed a bit perturbed by my preparation.
I must admit though, most of my “prepared” statements never made it out of my mouth… they always catch you at the most inopportune time. But I also didn’t let him get much speaking in either. I talked over just about every attempt of his to make his fruitless points. And I wasn’t polite, believe me… no cussing, but certainly no pleasantries. No information disclosed on my part. No “open-door” policy from me to allow him or any other lackey to return in the future. Nothing. Got it, people? They got nothing. And they’ll continue to get nothing, should they persist. And that’s all there is to it. My final words to him were (very plainly), “Get outta here”. And like the trained little parrot he is, he turned away from me and started down my front walk. Again, my doorstep, MY RULES!
“NO” MEANS “NO”… at least it does in my house.