Wary Michigan residents say census treads on privacy
Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News
Holt -- With 10 questions, it's one of the shortest U.S. census forms in history. But Joan Fabiano thinks it's not short enough, saying the government is entitled to ask only one question: How many people live at a residence?
Across Michigan, people are flexing their political muscle by picking and choosing which questions they complete for the U.S. census, which was mailed to homes March 15.
"There are people who are only going to fill out what is required by the Constitution," said Fabiano, a Holt resident and organizer of Grassroots in Michigan, which seeks to promote individual liberty and limited government. "It's a privacy issue and the federal government does not need to know anything they don't have a right to."
From Grassroots in Michigan to Tea Party activists to Libertarians, groups traditionally wary of government interference in private lives are casting a cynical eye on the census. Their hesitation reflects a national mood of mistrust of Big Brother at a time when census officials say it's most critical to be cooperative, given that funding for myriad programs depends on accurate counting.
"Most people that I know, they are filling out what they want to fill out," said Emily Salvette, state chairwoman of the Libertarian Party of Michigan, who lives in Ann Arbor. "If they feel a question is intrusive, they don't answer it. It's nothing new. It's 'how do we protect our privacy?' "
Census officials are eager to dispel privacy concerns as they work to improve return rates. Nationally, the rate of census return was at 20 percent on Thursday; in Michigan, it was at 26 percent. The numbers were far lower in the city of Detroit, which had only an 11 percent rate of return.
Detroit has several barriers to higher census participation rates, most notably a high adult illiteracy rate, said Erica Hill, coordinator for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's office for the 2010 census.
Additionally, some are afraid the information the forms provide to the government will be shared with authorities, she said, and folks like undocumented immigrants, those past due on child support or living illegally in a rental home just don't want to be found.
"Suburban communities don't have the population of folks that we have in our areas," she added.
Census officials maintain the information collected from the questionnaire is confidential by law, cannot be used as evidence in court and is not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. They add that the Constitution leaves the issue of determining census content to Congress, which approves all questions.
Kim Hunter, a Detroit-based census spokesman in Michigan, said the Census Bureau asks information such as name and birthday because it allows for verification of the data if needed.
"There is nothing ominous going on here," Hunter said. "We are trying to have the count have as much integrity as it can."
Incomplete census forms are still counted in a community's initial rate of return, officials said, but after being scanned, any forms with incomplete answers would be separated and placed into a nonresponsive follow-up pile.
Hunter said those who only partially fill out their forms can expect a visit from a census enumerator between May and July. Census officials have said they will make repeated visits if necessary to obtain information from nonresponsive households.
"Eventually, someone will come knocking on the door to obtain the information," Hunter said.
There are penalties for refusing to be counted in the census, specifically a $5,000 fine. But Hunter said he doesn't think anyone will be forced into completing the questionnaire. "We try to emphasize the benefits of completing it," he said.
Some Michigan residents object to personal information being asked, such as whether one owns or rents a home, while others say the government isn't entitled to data such as name and phone numbers. Others said they are offended at the lack of choices given for race/ethnicity and are writing in the word "American."
'There are political agendas'
Census officials say data collected off the form is used only for statistical purposes and to help determine allocation of federal funds for community services, such as school lunch programs and senior citizen centers, along with new construction projects such as highways and hospitals.
"I don't want to be part of the data capture. I will not fill out my phone number, they can look that up anyway," said Glenn Clark, a Troy resident active in the Oakland County Tea Party. "This census is the most politicized ever in the nation. They have a White House staff person in charge of it. There are political agendas here."
From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20100326/...#ixzz0jIB7NsH5
The government gave your your social security number which basically controls your entire life so I don't really think anything their going to ask is ultimately a secret from them at the end of the day.
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