Posted on 04/04/2010 2:56:51 PM PDT by Jean S
Edited on 04/04/2010 2:59:57 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
For assistance, please call the appropriate toll-free number listed below for the American Community Survey or the 2010 Census.
American Community Survey
If you need help completing your American Community Survey questionnaire or have other questions about the American Community Survey, please call 1-800-354-7271 for an English-speaking operator.
If you prefer a Spanish-speaking operator, call 1-877-833-5625. The American Community Survey toll-free lines are open from 9am - 9pm (your local time) Monday - Saturday, and noon - 9pm (your local time) on Sundays.
For the hearing impaired: TDD 1-800-582-8330.
2010 Census
If you need help completing your 2010 census questionnaire, or have other questions about the 2010 census, please call 1-866-872-6868 for an English-speaking operator.
If you prefer a Spanish-speaking operator, call 1-866-928-2010. The 2010 Census lines will be open from 8am to 9pm (your local time) seven days a week from February 25, 2010 through July 30, 2010.
For the hearing impaired, TDD 1-866-783-2010.
Find more information about the 2010 Census at 2010.census.gov.
So, the American Community Survey has nothing to do with the U.S. Census which is required by the Constitution. It serves other purposes, most likely associated with how the Federal Government distributes money to state and local governments.
Has anyone ever been prosecuted for refusing to participate in the American Community Survey? If so, how did the courts rule? I answered all 10 questions on my census form and returned the form to the government. There was no question on the form that the government could not already answer with information that they already have, except to confirm that my wife and I were living at the address on the form on 1 April 2010.
No one is going to prosecute you for not answering the ACS. The Census Bureau assumes that some people won’t answer the survey. This is part of the Census Bureau’s routine work, which involves providing statistical information about communities. IIRC, they remove names and personal identifying information from the ACS data.
Guy I work with got one of these last year. He called them up and gave them the riot act about it not being actually part of the census and not really constitutional. He finally asked her what the penalty of refusing to fill it out was. $100.
He asked if he could just send in a check or if he had to wait till charges were pressed. She said she'd have to get back with him on that.
Far as I know they never did do anything.
I researched it at the time I got one and as far as I was able to determine, they have no prosecuted anyone for not filling out the ACS. I think they don’t want to risk an adverse court decision.
Tahnks for posting this — I saw many people have questions about the ACS.
As I posted on another thread — I received both and when I got my official Census form, I called to find out what that lengthy, intrusive form was all about and found out this group hired by the Census Bureau does these new long forms every year — called them community organizers to the man who answered the phone. Then I asked him if it was mandatory for me to have filled out the long form and all he kept saying was it would help my home city and state and I said I am from Oklahoma and doubt if we are going to get much help from Obama and he laughed.
Bottom line is that I was never told if it was mandatory or not — he gave me this website and said he didn’t know if it was mandatory but the short form was which I filled out and sent back.
If someone from the Census Bureau who is answering the phone if you have questions, doesn’t know, then I am not sure who would.
I was told by the Census Bureau that the long form is now yearly not every ten years but the guy didn’t know when it started being yearly.
Here is what I posted on Jan 24th of this year (I got the ACS survey):
Recently completed the census “long form” (ACS) that includes demographic information. Sent it in.
Received this evening a call from someone saying they are from the Census and they are calling to verify information on the form.
I told the heavily accented mexican woman calling that I will not discuss personal information over the phone, that if they want to verify information they can do so by coming by my address and speaking to me directly.
She insisted I speak with her. I declined. She then said she can provide me a telephone number to call to verify she is with the census.
I said, no thanks, you could have easily set-up an “toll-free” number and again, I do not discuss personal information on the phone. I refused the number, as well, because I did not want to hunt for a pen and paper. It is Sunday evening, for goodness sake.
She said she was going to enter into my file that I am not cooperative and hung up.
These people, who the heck are they? Besides, it was clear from her accent that English was a second language to her.
(As a side-note, last year I was a victim of attempted identity theft and am very protective about my personal information.)
FOLLOW-UP:
About 2-weeks later I received another call, this time from some woman claiming to be from the Census. I told her I don’t talk personal stuff over the phone and she said she has three ways I can confirm she is who she says she is. I said, no way, it is your responsibility to prove to me who you are. It is NOT my responsibility to prove who you are, and if you really are with the Census, you have my address and drop by and we will chat.
Nothing heard. . . . .
What is Person 1’s age and what is Person 1’s date of birth? I actually answered in years based on Mercury's orbit. They give you three boxes for your numbers, so I used them.
Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin – Print origin, for example, Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on. "América del Norte"
Race? "HUMAN" (as on the Census)
Has this person given birth to any children in the past 12 months? "Yes" (I helped deliver a baby for a total stranger who didn't make it to the hospital) - a fun answer since I'm a guy.
What is this person’s ancestry or ethnic origin? "Mixed ancestry, 50% male, and 50% female."
Does this person speak a language other than English at home? "Yes - Greek, Aramaic" (Hey, I talk to myself when I'm studying, so it's true.)
How many separate rooms are in this house, apartment, or mobile home? "one" They're all part of the same structure, so they are not separate.
Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have –
a. hot and cold running water? "NO" (they're not running at the moment)
b. a flush toilet? "NO" we have more than one.
Which FUEL is used MOST for heating this house, apartment, or mobile home? "No fuel used" (since the heat runs a lot less than half the time)
There is a lot of fraud going on, so you did the right thing to not discuss personal info over the phone.
I hope others do the same.
Let’s not scare people off of answering the census. It is stupid. What Michelle Bachmann did was dumb, and she should have corrected it. Reports say many conservatives are avoiding the census because of paranoid and inaccurate information. BIG mistake. Rest assured illegals and leftist groups are filling out census forms with gusto to increase their representation and therefore the amount of largesse handed to them.
I'd like to know where in the Constitution is says they can so this.
I got one of these POS early last fall. Talk about intrusive! Download this sucker and look at the questions it asks.
I got the broadest tipped marker I could find and "filled out" the form and mailed it in.
Several week later they called me and said the form had not been received. Asked if they could ask me the questions over the phone. NO! I explained that I had received the form, filled it out, mailed it back and that my involvement had ended. Never heard back from them.
Could The American Community Survey be some branch of ACORN?
I love your liberal stances on everything, from your RINO-loving posts to this.
The vast majority of people on FR have been sending in their census, but only answering the first question, the one that asks the number of people who live in your home—which all agree is what the census is described as needing from the Constitution.
Why do you always side with the liberal interpretation of everything, Montag813?
It would be a cold day in hell before I filled one out. There is nothing they could do to make me do it. They would have to kill me first. As far as the regular form, I told them 2 people live here and to get the hell off my property before I called the sheriff and let the dogs out.
LoL good luck with that.
Go ahead and fill it out, don’t expect me to be a cs like you are. COUNT, how many people, that’s all they are entitled to and it’s all they got. PERIOD! When the Marxists are out of the WH, I’ll fill it out in the future. Nobody can fill in the rest of the boxes and put Hispanic of any crap like that because all of the other boxes were marked refused to answer.
BTW, for all who are concerned.........I have an official list of all those working for the Census and their photographs and have compiled that into a database which anyone can access for an annual subscription fee of $130.00. My website is www.mynigerianprince.com where you can also find great ways to make money helping African royalty get their money out of Africa. (humortag).
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