– Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders Deputy
Director Tom Pullion reminded residents that there is still time for them toget counted in the 2020 Census and that those who have not responded should do
so right away.
“The deadline for completion of the county has been pushedback but there’s little time to waste,” said Pullion. “To everyone who has
responded already, thank you. To those that haven’t, please do it now beforeit’s too late.”
As of Friday, Oct. 8, a total of 77.4% of Burlington County
households had self-responded to the Census, a more than two percentage pointimprovement over the county’s 75.3% self-response rate in 2010.
Only two counties – Hunterdon and Somerset – had higher
self-response rates than Burlington County.
The U.S. Constitution requires the census be conductedevery 10 years to get an accurate count of the nation’s population. The numbers
are then used to determine the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives and to draw the borders of both congressional and legislative
districts in each state.
The population numbers are also used to divide up federalfunding for schools, hospitals, roads and other public projects.
This year’s count was originally slated to end on July 31
but was pushed back to Oct. 31 due to the coronavirus outbreak. It was thenmoved to Sept. 30, before a U.S. Appeals Court ordered it to continue through
Oct. 31.
Since the deadline remains the subject of litigation,Pullion urged any resident who hasn’t self-responded or been counted by a
Census worker to respond online or by phone right away.
He also credited the hard work of the County’s CensusCoordinator and other volunteers for the County’s strong showing so far.
As part of the outreach to promote participation,
Burlington County’s government held or participated in more than 200 outreachevents throughout the county, and the county’s Census coordinator and other
county volunteers have had interactions with more than 13,000 residents.
“We’re proud of how many of our residents have responded,but with billions in federal funding at stake, we don’t want to miss counting a
single resident,” the freeholder said. “Consider this month sudden-deathovertime. There is no time left to wait.”
To get counted visit,
2020census.gov/ or call 844-330-2020.