The state of Alabama has fallen behind the nation at large in responding to the U.S. Census.
The census determines how many votes a state gets in the electoral college, how many representatives a state has in Congress, and how much federal funding a state gets for key public programs.
The Census Bureau publishes response rates on its website.
The national self-response rate is 59.1% and Alabama’s is 57.3%. Within Alabama, the response rate varies considerably by area and by county.
Alabama’s two standout counties are Shelby and Madison, which have response rates of 70.9% and 69.4%, respectively.
Bringing up the rear are Coosa County and Perry County, neither of which have broken 30%.
It is widely recognized that Alabama is one of the states most likely to lose a congressional representative after 2020 if the state has a poor response rate.
Various officials have commented on the negative consequences a subpar response rate would bring about in the Yellowhammer State.
“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of what a full and accurate count in the 2020 Census means for Alabama. Those numbers have a direct impact on billions of dollars in funding that affect schools, community programs, health care, job opportunities and just about every other aspect of our state,” Governor Kay Ivey commented last year.
Speaker of the Alabama House Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) earlier this year, “This would be devastating for our state for us to lose this funding just because we did not try to get out and help each other fill out these forms.”
“If we want Alabama to grow and prosper economically, we need people to fill out the census,” advised U.S. Rep Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville).
Citizens can fill out their census form online.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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