April 1 is Census Day. The day is not a deadline, but is used by the Census Bureau to determine where a person should be counted for their residency.
“This is the kickoff for everybody to get online or call on the telephone and do their self report,” said Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, chairman of the Montana Census Complete Count Committee.
Lt. Gov. Cooney strongly encourages people to take 10 minutes out of their day to complete the census survey , and do it as soon as possible.
Many Montanans should have received a code from the Census Bureau in their mail.
Census codes will only be sent to physical addresses however. Rural routes and PO box users will not be sent a code, but you don’t need a code to complete the 2020 census.
Lt. Gov. Cooney says COVID-19 has created a difficult situation for getting the word out to everyone.
“We’ve been hoping to get things hung on people’s doors telling them how to go about filing their census report. Well, those efforts have been brought to a standstill because of the virus. We’re very concerned about that, and we’re very worried that some people may not understand what they need to be doing,” said Lt. Gov. Cooney.
As of March 31, around 29.3 percent of Montanans have self-reported.
Every person counted equates to around $20,000 of federal funds for the state over the next decade.
Depending on the numbers of people living in the state compared to the rest of the country, Montana may also regain its second U.S. House seat.
People can call the Census phone number at 1-844-330-2020 at or visit the
my2020census.gov
, even if they don’t have a census code to make sure they are counted.
