Census Workers Seeking to Tally Those Who Dally

More than 3,500 census takers hit the streets of Orange County on Thursday to knock on doors and try to count people who did not return federal census questionnaires.

The enumerators, as the Census Bureau calls them, will canvass the neighborhoods where they live and will work through July 7 to make the county’s count as complete as possible, census officials said.

The first day went smoothly, said Carol Wicliff, who supervises 120 enumerators in Orange and Santa Ana.

“There were no dog bites, no accidents, no door-slammings,” Wicliff said. “I’ve already turned in 30 completed forms, and we’ll have many more by the end of the day.”

Orange County had about a 72% response rate, higher than the national average of 65% but lower than the goal local officials had set for the area. Despite a $170-million national advertising campaign, experts say a broad cultural fear about giving out personal information is hurting the census.

The county’s lowest response was in Laguna Beach, where only 56% of completed forms were returned. The highest was in nearby Laguna Woods, with a 79% response rate.

The information is vital to getting a statistical picture of the nation, said Jeanine Kabrich, a census spokeswoman based in Los Angeles. The data will help legislators redraw districts and aid officials in planning new roads, hospitals and funding for schools.

“The message to the community is, ‘Open the door and participate,’ ” Kabrich said. “This helps everyone in the county, every single person.”

The second wave of the national head count is officially known as “non-response follow-up,” the more difficult part of the job. Enumerators carry signature black book bags, flash identification badges and use official census forms.

The follow-up census takers will make as many as three phone calls and three visits to reach the residents of each household. If that fails, they can seek out building managers, landlord or neighbors as substitute sources for information.

Each worker is assigned to 40 households at a time. Enumerators are trained to be flexible and set appointments to return later if the timing of the visit is not acceptable to the residents.

“They should not ask to enter the house,” Kabrich said. They complete the forms “right there at the door. We want people to pay attention and be careful when strangers knock, but we want them to cooperate with our enumerators. Our people do not ask questions about bank accounts and finances.”