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”
Thanks Cathy, I guess I have a high probability of being visited, my town is less than 12,000. I’m ready to fight it but I don’t want my neighbors harassed. And I don’t want to feel like I have to hide out in my house!
I know that they hire locals for the regular census home visitors, are they going to be the initial workers sent to my house? I know someone who is from my town and is working for the CB, any chance she will be sent to my home? It’s going to be hard to tell her to get lost, oh well, I’m still not filling it out.
As I said a few weeks ago, we have a serial killer in town, the rep is going to have a hard time camping out in my neighborhood!
Thanks for all of the information.
dd,
It is difficult to predict if you’ll be able to skip the visit phase. I knew that I had a high probability of being visited because the CB was targeting small towns and rural areas. Large cities and towns are easier to assault with the ACS because more surveys can go out without one resident knowing another person with the survey. Areas with small populations will need 5 years to collect the same volume of info by the stealth method.
Every CB field rep has a different level of aggressiveness when dealing with the public. I didn’t have any door pounders, while others had reps who camped out watching the residence. Think of the tactics like good cop bad cop. They can be sweet spewing the guilt trip or threaten with the fines.
We also have no way of knowing how many non-responders are on the harassment list. The fewer the rep has the more time can be devoted to each residence. Also factor in the commuting distance the rep has. My original rep lives about 10 minutes away from me. But the time I got finished looking her up, I could have filled out most of the questions on the ACS on her.
I received 2 surveys in the mail, two weeks apart in May, which I did not answer then I received 3 calls over the weekend, which I ignored. They called yesterday evening and I answered, after verifying my phone number (she called me?) she said “Am I speaking to the woman of the house” I said yes, she went on to say that an important survey was being conducted in my area and she needed to ask me some very important questions….I asked if this was about the American Community Survey – yes she said, I then told her to mark my residence as Refused and that I was well aware of the consequences of my actions. She said “Well, okay” and hung up.
Any chance I might skip the visits or any future calls?
Cathy, thank you for your encouragement.
My lil’ pit bull census taker visited again today. She pounded on the door once, paused, then pounded again. She waited on the porch for a while before giving up.
Interestingly, she didn’t leave a note in the door frame this time. That’s okay; I have numerous notes from her previous visits. They’ll make great kindling this winter!
Fifty-four days of cat-and-mouse remaining.
🙂
P.S. Hiya, Ben!
I recommend that everyone google for their own names and addresses and see what you find. Lots of info is out there for the CB field reps to find. Also, every town/village/city maintain public records on property owners. Anyone can walk in and look that info up.
Remember that the CB’s own info states that it is your RESIDENCE and not YOU selected for the survey. Placing your name on their notes is another intimidation tactic. Maybe notes to them should be addressed to “CB Extortionist”. Without a warrant, the CB gets nothing.
They may be required to have contact with the “resident”, but YOU are not required to supply them with that contact. The field reps only visit 1/3 of the non-responding residences. Where is the requirement to “make contact” with those people? The CB can take a hike! It’s time to be like Brigadoon and come alive every 10 years for the census and only the census. All they need is a postcard sent out asking for the number of persons at that residence and nothing more.
Every question on the ACS relates to a program which most likely violates the Constitution and allows for the theft of wealth while employing the pseudo-scientists who suggest the creation of more gov programs. Anyone wonder why the US GDP is in the dumper? We need more people manufacturing wealth rather than studying way to redistribute it.
I expect that the CB is under a lot of pressure to attain results. The CB is constantly over budget. Lots of money was wasted on the handheld computers which failed to perform in the field. There are always challenges to the accuracy of the decennial counts. Congress has cut funding for the CB, although some funding was restored through the stimulus bill.
All of you are doing a great job!
There is a bill before Congress, Bill H.R.3131, that if passed will make the American Community Survey voluntary. Here is information about the bill and writing a letter to Congress.
Well, last Tuesday my husband and I returned home from visiting my parents in Montana and while we were gone we had a visit from Rebecca, SENIOR Field Representative, instead of Jerry, Field Representative. So the next phase has started, as it has been just over 30 days since my first visit. We’ll see how long she stays and how many visits we get from her over the next 30 days. Only 1 so far, although I hd expected a visit this weekend. She must not like Dundee as much as Jerry did.
Oh, and on the envelope she left, she wrote OUR NAMES, so if she can get that info, she sure can get much of the other info they are asking. If they cannot get it through public info, then it must mean it is PRIVATE. She also wrote below our names “Is there life beyond this door? Please call me am/pm,” blah, blah, blah. No there was no life beyond the door because we WERE NOT home, Rebecca!
My report for the time being. Godd luck to all of you dealing with this, too. I am hanging in there with you. It is nice to have SO MUCH support here!
Shannon
Third visit today (Sunday) while I was away from home.
She keeps highlighting the message that she MUST make contact with an adult in the household. She also states that I can call her anytime up until 10pm. Since they don’t have my phone number as far as I know, this isn’t going to happen!
This will continue for a month? Or more?
You’re welcome.
Ban
I love this site!
I received two census forms, which I ignored, then our tenacious lil’ census taker started visiting. Upon initial contact, I told her how many reside at our home and how long we’ve lived here. She continues to visit so “we can complete the form.”
That day will never come. I’ve lost count of our census taker’s attempts to make further contact—at least six visits, which is a very conservative estimate—with the last three being consecutive days. I leave her little notes in the door frame/jam (just as she positioned them), yet she knows I am home.
I taped over the peephole in my front door and ignore her knocks. On another site, a census worker mentioned the visits will persist until the end of July. I have fifty-seven days of cat-and-mouse remaining. It should be interesting.
I would like to thank another poster at the aforementioned forum for recommending this site. I don’t wish to mention his name (out of respect for his privacy), but if he is reading this . . . thank you, “B”!