The U.S. Census determines how many electoral college votes and representatives in Congress a state gets, along with how much federal funding it receives. As of today, Alabama lags behind Tennessee and Kentucky in Census participation.
The Census is composed of 10 questions and takes less than six minutes to complete.
Any citizen who has not filled out the Census can do so online.
According to the Census Bureau’s website, 59.8% of Alabama’s citizens have filled out their Census, which trails the national average of 62.1%.
Over 61% of Tennesseans and over 65% of Kentuckians have filled out their Census forms.
The U.S. House of Representatives is comprised of 435 voting members, and the Census determines how many of those members each state gets.
The Census data experts at the firm Election Data Services have projected that Alabama is on the razor’s edge of losing a seat in the House.
The firm currently projects Alabama will lose a House seat by only around 10,000 citizens, meaning if the state sees an especially strong response rate, the loss of a seat can still be avoided.
Elected leaders like Governor Kay Ivey, Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) and State Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) have all pointed out that losing a congressional seat means the loss of billions of dollars across the next decade that would go to projects like roads, bridges and schools.
The two counties in Alabama which have done the best job of filling out the Census are Shelby and Madison, which each boast a response rate of over 70%.
Also performing well are Autauga, Blount, Colbert, Elmore, Etowah, Lauderdale, Marshall, Morgan and St. Clair counties, which all range from 63% to 69% in response rate.
Alabama’s worst performing counties are Coosa, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox counties, none of which have reached 41% reporting.
Counties with higher rates of educated citizens appear to correlate with higher census response rates, except for Baldwin, Lee and Limestone counties. All of those counties are underperforming their expectations based on education rates.
The Census questionnaire, which is available here, can still be taken even if someone has misplaced the census code mailed to them.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
