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”
Seems like the C.B. might get the idea they have harmed themselves by the 28 page American Community Survey, because a lot of people now won’t be responding to either census. All they are doing is building more and more distrust, not to mention the enormous amount of money wasted. I’ve notice that lately we seem to be getting an unusual amount of telelmarketing, medicare, surveys via telephone and mail lately. I’m disgusted with them all. If Madison Avenue wants to know better ways to push their products, let them figure it out themselves …or possibly making a better product.
Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate them.
When they call, does anyone know where they get your phone number from? I do not have a landline (which I saw some info about that in a post somewhere above that it is the landline that constitutes residency???) and have not had for years, only my cell.
I was hoping to elude them, but do not want to waste the money we pay, even though that is something like an oxymoron maybe, so will likely open the door and say, “No, thank you.”
I will answer how many people live in my household when the 10-year census form – or person – comes around. That is it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Shannon
I’ve been waiting for this year to watch what happens when residences receive both the ACS and the 2010 census. The unintended consequences of the confusion resulting from the double mailings will be royal. While only 1/3 of the non-responders receive a visit from the CB field rep, every non-responder for the 2010 census will be visited. I hope the CB hired enough people. Can’t wait for the final cost of this census. I expect the CB to be way over budget. Your tax dollars had at work!!!!
I agree with Paul. I think once you tell them in person that you are not answering the ACS, they will leave you alone. In my case, I ignored the knocks on my door partly because I wanted to see just home many visits they would make to my house. During the 7th visit the census taker told my neighbors it was costing them (the taxpayer) $25 each time she had to come out. It was finally on the 8th visit that I opened the door. I was kinda hoping for a heated exchange and had the camcorder ready. It lasted all of 15-20 seconds when I told her I would not answer any of the questions save one: the number of people living here.
Looking back, I probably shouldn’t even have told her that. Instead I should have said I’ll answer that one question in due time, when the actual Census is sent to my house.
Shannon, you received your first ACS, not the 2010 Census, that will come this month. You will get your second copy of the ACS in two weeks. (I didn’t answer the enumeration questions, or any others, on the ACS, as the number of people can be answered on the Census.) Next, you’ll have a month of phone calls and a month of visits, unless you make contact and just say no. My 90 days ended yesterday with (hopefully) the last phone calls. I had 2 surveys, numerous posts cards, endless unanswered phone calls, but only one visit. I politely told him no and he left. I then received the FedEx overnight letter which gave me more names to call! Lastly I have been receiving phone calls from my local CB rep, but she hasn’t stopped by yet. So, I’m either done or expect one last visit from her. I hope I am home so I can just tell her no. Avoiding contact simply results in more visits. A NO seems to stop them or at least accelerate it to the next phase. The process has really been quite easy and wasn’t worth the initial stress I felt the first week after receiving the first ACS back in November. Take heart!
We too received the ACS form back in Early November. I sat down one evening to fill out my required form as any good American would, I was however shocked and highly uncomfortable with the nature of the questions and the amount of extremely personal questions required. I was highly taken back by the threat of fines and jail in order to gain compliance.
I filled out the form with only the number of residents living in my home, nothing more and sent it back and began to research the ACS rights and my rights as a citizen and waited. Sure enough, just as the others have described on this forum it began to happen to me just like clockwork. They only have one playbook. We received the original form first, followed by one month of very harassing telephone calls where I was threatened with fact that this a mandatory survey and that I will be fined for not completing the survey. On every call the ACS worker was trying very hard to get me to take the survey over the phone and that this would be over. I held by ground with the same story every time that I was not willing to take part in their survey and as an American I was protected by the Constitution and as such I did not have to reveal to them any information.
The phone calls lasted one month, have you heard this part before? Then the visits started. I received a total of three visits before I had a very short conversation with the ACS worker (he finally found me at home) where I told him the same story I had with the workers on the phone. After he realized that he was getting nowhere with me and that I was not going to complete the survey, he thanked me and left.
That was three weeks ago and I believe that this ordeal is now over. This site has helped embolden me to stand up to the ACS. I knew when I first sat down to fill it out that this was just wrong. Stand up to the ACS! Be polite, but firm and never, ever be afraid of them. Their threats are empty ands soon it will be over for you as well.
Welcome to the resistance Shannon. To answer your question, I didn’t answer any of the questions on the ACS. The Census bureau is free to count heads every 10 years as the Constitution permits. Everyone should resist any inquisitions made before the appointed time. And when the Census does make the rounds answer one, and only one question, how many people live here?
I just received this survey last week for the first time and could not believe what I what holding. It was GIANT. Then read through it and could not believe what I was reading and that I was REQUIRED BY LAW to answer the questions. I could not believe that, AT ALL. So, here I am. I found this site and thank everyone who has given information about this on here. I will not be answering the questions on this survey; however, I do want to know: Should I answer the “how many people and sex of each” question on it? I believe this is IN ADDITION TO the regular census, so it would seem I could throw this in the garbage and wait for the other one?
Thanks in advance for any responses to my questions.
Shannon
Why do they need names, DOB, race, phone number and rent/own?
The CB justifies the asking of questions by saying that they have always asked questions.
Name and phone number are administrative questions which allows the CB to contact individuals to verify the accuracy of the answers and to identify senior citizens.
DOB is a check on the age; in case the individual makes a math error.
Race/country of origin and specifically Hispanic are questions demanded by the social scientists. There is a map of the USA showing the distribution of individuals divided by ethnic identification. Various ethnic groups (like La Raza) want to know where their members are. Political elites want to know the ethnic background of their constituents to pander, pander, pander.
Tenure (own/rent) measures accumulated wealth. This question is directly responsible the housing bubble and banking crisis. Political elites thought that they could increase the rate of home ownership especially in poorer neighborhoods by mandating that banks grant loans to those who didn’t qualify under normal lending rules. What the gov doesn’t understand is that some people who can afford homes may not desire to purchase them and many who want homes may never be able to afford them. Every time the gov tries to level the playing field, in damages that field instead. Intervention creates more intervention by the unintended consequences.
The Constitution requires that the population be counted, not counted by category so that congressional districts are gerrymandered.
I intend to answer ONLY the number of people. It is none of the gov’s business what I consider my race to be, my age, relationship to others who may share my residence or whether I rent or own! My country of origin is the USA. I am an American. I value the Constitution. I just wish the elected political elites who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution actually valued the Constitution as well.
I just read the 10 questions of the 2010 Census. Why do they need Names and DOB, Race, Phone Number, If the residence is rented/owned…
I will provide the Number of People, and Sex of each person. I do not want to provide any other information.
Any thoughts on this?
joe