Posted Monday, April 20, 2020 12:01 am

Despite stay-at-home orders at the local and national level, American citizens have an obligation to submit this year’s 2020 census in an effort to expand federal funding for critical programs and ensure local communities are fairly represented by government officials.

According to the 2020 Census website on Sunday evening, April 19, Montgomery County’s response rate is 56.9 percent while Butler is 53; Coffeen, 45.9; Coalton, 58.4; Donnellson, 31.1; Farmersville, 50.4; Fillmore, 46.6; Harvel, 35.5; Hillsboro, 56.5.

Also, Irving, 51; Litchfield, 58.3; Nokomis, 62.5; Ohlman, 41.8; Panama, 58.2; Raymond, 61.1; Schram City, 52.4; Taylor Springs, 42.2;Waggoner, 32; Walshville, 63; Wenonah, 52.1; and Witt, 55.2.

“In my tenure as Montgomery County Clerk, I have assisted with two other census cycles, in 2000 and 2010,” said Montgomery County Clerk Sandy Leitheiser. “I implore all county residents to complete the 2020 Census because I believe we have more at stake now than we did before with the prior census results because of our dwindling revenues from federal, state and local sources, which will now be reduced even more by COVID-19 impacts.”

Federal funding for programs including Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), highway planning and construction, Section 8 housing vouchers, the national school lunch program and special education grants are all based on census counts.

“Many do not understand how our population count affects our daily lives–funds we count on for all age groups, income groups and employment groups in Montgomery County will deal with increased taxes and/or reduced services if we don’t receive an accurate census count,” said Leitheiser. “Also, if we think we don’t have a voice with our state and federal elected officials now, it will be even worse if our population decreases after the 2020 Census because we will likely be part of larger districts.”

While the originial self-response phase has been extended to Aug. 14, the U.S. Census Bureau and government officials remain dilligent in getting every resident counted for.

The Macoupin County Health Department received a grant to help Montgomery County and will be overseeing the two-county census effort.

“The most significant impact the COVID-19 stay-at-home order has had on our team’s census work at the local level is the cancellation of numerous events we had scheduled all around Macoupin and Montgomery counties during the months of April and May,” said Becky Hatlee, who serves as health program coordinator and public information officer for the Macoupin County Public Health Department.

In addition to local health fairs and social events, the Macoupin County Public Health Department census team scheduled nearly 50 events throughout Montgomery and Macoupin counties to assist individuals in filling out their online form, however, those events have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Hatlee, the most significant impact at the state level is that it has caused a delay in the timeline of when U.S. Census Bureau enumerators will be knocking on the doors of households that have not responded to the census. This work by the enumerators was slated to begin May 1, however, it has been postponed and will now take place between May 28 to Aug. 24.

The census team has established two helplines that residents can call to get assistance. Individuals may call the Montgomery County Clerk’s office at 217-532-9530 or the Macoupin County Health Department at 217-839-7822. To fill out an online form, please visit www.2020census.gov.

“Because COVID-19 will severely impact the U.S. Census Bureau’s plan for door-to-door census taker outreach, it puts most of the responsibility on our shoulders to make sure everyone we know completes their census forms with a grass-roots effort,” said Leitheiser. “I believe we can accomplish this because we have wonderful citizens in Montgomery County who care very deeply about maintaining our quality of life and always come together to help each other in times of strife. This is happening now because of COVID-19’s impact, and I have faith it can also happen with attaining a good 2020 census count.”