LYNN — It’s a weird year to take the census, and low response rates may be a manifestation of that. As of Wednesday, Lynn had about a 44 percent response rate to the 2020 U.S. Census, despite “census day” having taken place April 1.
And, in an effort to increase the number of census responses, next week the city will begin an “all-out visual campaign,” with billboards, lawn signs, and fliers put out to increase the number of respondents, according to Janet Rowe, Lynn election chief.
Because of the stay-at-home advisory, social distancing measures, and the closure of nonessential businesses during the pandemic, it has been more difficult than usual to count the “hard-to-count” people in 2020.
“To get the hard-to-count people, we really need to get out there, but we can’t get out there to the churches and big meetings like we normally could,” Rowe said.
Lynn’s 44 percent response rate is lower than the rate in Massachusetts as a whole — 61.3 percent as of Thursday evening, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Census statistics remain for a decade, and each person counted represents federal and state dollars allocated to the community, making counting everyone extremely important, Rowe said.
“It’s so important, especially for our city which is so big, we need the chunk of the billions of federal funds that are out there,” Rowe said.
When people do not respond to the census, the U.S. Census Bureau sends workers out to visit homes and count people in person. Because of the pandemic, even that may be particularly difficult, Rowe said.
Rowe said door-to-door visits were supposed to begin in May or June, but it’s looking less likely they will happen on schedule.
“They hired a lot of people that are supposed to go door-to-door in the summer,” Rowe said. “That I think is going to be put on hold, because I don’t know if people can go door-to-door or if people will want to do that right now.”
“No one’s going to want to walk and knock on doors, and people aren’t going to want to answer doors right now,” she said.
Rowe said the plan is to “flood the city” with eye-catching census billboards and lawn signs, which should start getting put up next week. Lynn Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler is also joining the effort, Rowe said, by having fliers put into free lunches that Lynn students may pick up while schools are closed.
Some cities have used “telephone banking” to make mass phone calls asking people to respond to the census, but Rowe said, in her opinion, a visual campaign will work better, because some people won’t answer their phones or return voicemail messages.
Rowe said she personally has 100 signs she is planning to put out.
For information on responding to the U.S. Census, visit the Lynn Election Facebook page at www.facebook.com/2618774711682387/posts/2989168951309626/?d=n.
Also, call (844) 330-2020 (844-468-2020 for Spanish) or visit www.my2020census.gov to respond.
