Census Civil Disobedience

[Tom Sawyer]

Actually they can and should feel more vulnerable to the law... The penalities for them sharing your personal info and such is quite harsh...

One thing I learned when the government owned me...
The officers could be quite frightened because they often had more at stake than us underlings had.

Let's see, I'm facing a hundred dollar fine and you could be imprisoned and fined 10's of thousands of dollars... let's play chicken.   

[Roycerson]

I got a postcard threatening me for not sending my census thing in but I never got a census thing. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Some greedy neighbor wanted two forms.

[Pat McCotter]

It should be obvious from this that Ms. Census, Shelley Lowe, is full of it... The fine is not $5000, but only $500 if you LIE!

And what, I might well ask, is the fine if a census worker lies?

                                    That's what I thought . . .

$2,000

[PowerPenguin]

Just started getting census harassment in the Portsmouth area... They left 2 forms (which are being recycled) and they came back a third(?) time when I was home. I treated them like the police (ie, didn't open the door, said I don't open the door to strangers and didn't request their services) and they went away after about 5 minutes of back-and-forth. The "Are you familiar with the one constitutional question you can ask?" question eventually got rid of them (probably coincidence, but whatever it takes).

On an interesting and related note, my work exposes me to many members of the public, including a few people who are apparently working for the census. They enjoy golf pencils, and at least some of them are buying prepaid phones for official use (apparently they get airtime reimbursements) to "avoid harassment." To me, this means they  know they are harassing to "citizens," and don't want to taste their own medicine. Apparently, they do this until about July, then give up, or until all households are visited 5-6 times (hopefully) whichever comes first.

[Ogre]

I was trying to decide how to handle them when they come to my door. I think I'm just going to only answer "five" to any question they ask. I don't imagine they would, but if they went down the road of telling me about alleged fines for refusing to answer, I'll ask them if they know the fines for census workers telling lies. But then I'll just go back to saying "five" to anything else they say. If I can get my camera working in time, I'll film it. At the very least, I'll photograph them a lot. After all, they are on my property, right?

[AntonLee]

Sunday afternoon saw a Census worker canvassing the neighborhood.  I had my girlfriend's parents and grandparents over.  Started a crappy discussion about how we will not be participating.   Just another instance of that evil Tony making poor Jaime into one of those evil "separatists" 

At least they know better than to stop conversing about it before I get really going.  That census girl didn't stop by.  I was quite confused, there are 60 trailers here, saw her for 4 or 5 minutes and then she must have been all over the rest of the park.  I guess they don't stop at homes where they already answered the census.  This leads me to believe a lot of people JUST IN MY PARK didn't answer.  Makes me happy.

Today, saw a car parked on the edge of my lawn.  Since I just put down grass seed I was not happy about this, but after inspection they actually cleared my seeds by like an eighth of an inch.  I let it slide without tracking down the person.  Mind you, I was gone from my home for 10 minutes today.  I have a gate to my deck that is latched shut.  No access to the front door wihtout undoing the latch and entering.  Delivery drivers, maintenence workers, UPS drivers have never opened the latch, always attempted to knock from the porch.  This person gave himself extra permission.  I don't have a sign saying "do not undo latch without permission, but I might soon enough.


Observations Continued:  The form has an english and spanish side.   The english side was filled out with a person's name, telephone number and best time to call for some reason.   I don't appreciate people leaving trash in my door, but what if I was a spanish speaking person?  I suppose I'm not supposed to call if I was.

I took a minute to sit on the porch after about an hour, sat down on my swing and the winds picked up.  Light raindrops led me to remove my PorcGadsden and place the tomato planter in a better position for the wind.  I went back up on the porch and left the gate open.  I sat down for a moment on the swing as I saw an older man come down the driveway.  He was nervously smiling with his manpurse at his side, a big badge on his shirt, and looked hesitatly at me.  My girlfriend's famiy thought that they didn't stop by because of my porcgadsden out front.  His demeanor led me to believe that maybe there was some creedence to the idea.

Me:  "You from the census"
Census Worker:  "Yes, I'm . . ."
Me: /closing gate\  "No need, I'm not helping with any government programs
Census Worker:  "you're not participating?  refusing?"
Me:  "Whatever you call it."
Census Worker:  "It's just a . . ."
Me:  "I know what it is, I know the penalties. . ."
Census Worker:  /interrupting\  "Oh I don't know of any penalties"
Me:  "Jail."
Census Worker:  "Jail?"
Me:  "Yes, a few more threats by letter, another visit or two, then a fine.  And when I don't pay the fine, then jail.  I'll take it."
Census Worker:  "You'll take jailtime?"
Me:  "Yes, have a nice day."


of course, I wanted to mention about him parking so close to my future lawn. . . but I was so surprised that he left without any argument really, he was halfway down the ramp as I as talking to him.  I think he faced a lot of rejection today.  I was polite, strong, stern, and honest.  No threats towards them, no lambasting, no history lesson.  I am not giving a number.

[PowerPenguin]

Anton, I think the term is "european shoulder-bag" 8-). Has anyone in a rural town seen them yet? I'd assume they'd start with the larger population centers and get around to the rest later.

[EthanLeeVita]

They're probably much older, but I remember the manpurses from Joey in Friends so they've had plenty of time to percolate.

[Pat K]

I got this one so no one would make fun of me.

[Tim L]

Can census workers ignore no trespassing signs ?

[Pat McCotter]

Can census workers ignore no trespassing signs ?

"Sometimes they have dogs," she said. "Sometimes they have shotguns. And sometimes they have posted 'No Trespassing' signs on their property. You are trained to assume that a 'No Trespassing' sign doesn't apply to you."

Temporary census work available; shy need not apply
By Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporter

If you don't particularly like people, the job of census taker is probably not for you.

Ditto if you're timid or easily intimidated.

Census Bureau offices are still recruiting enumerators â€" people who, starting in May, will go street to street knocking on the doors of those who do not return their census forms.

It's really not a bad gig â€" the pay is reasonable, you get to set your own hours, and for the most part, you're put to work in your own neighborhood.

But this kind of job has never been for the faint of heart. And this year, a distrust of the federal government, fueled by everything from the bailout to health care, could further complicate enumerators' work.

"They'll have doors slammed in their faces and (in very rare cases) guns put in their faces," said Sonny Le, a spokesman for Census Bureau offices in Washington state. But "ultimately we have no choice but to finish this job. And if it takes up to six visits we'll account for you, even if we have to talk to the postman or your neighbors."

By the time Census 2010 operations wrap up in the fall, the bureau will have hired about 1.4 million people nationwide â€" as office managers, clerks, recruiters and enumerators â€" including 15,000 or so across Washington state.

Offices in Olympia and Silverdale, Kitsap County, are still accepting applications for enumerator jobs. The pay varies from city to city â€" $13.25 an hour in those two places; $11.75 an hour in Spokane and up to $17.50 in Seattle and Everett.

The job of recruiting census takers has never been simple.

Because so many applicants won't pass a criminal-background check, don't follow through or simply quit, the Census Bureau says it must process far more applicants than it will actually need for the jobs â€" five candidates for every single position.

Each candidate must pass written and criminal-background tests before being put into a broader candidate pool. In past decades, when the job market was strong, it was not uncommon for frustrated workers to quit after a day or two â€" requiring managers to reach into the pool to replace them right away.

For 2010, the Census Bureau began recruiting in the fall of 2008, when many people were searching for any kind of work. Thousands applied and many were quickly brought on board as clerks and managers and for early census-preparation work.

Others recruited last fall for work as enumerators have since found more permanent jobs, removing themselves from consideration. And some have failed to show up for training, while others have dropped out after being trained.

It's left some offices scrambling to ensure they have enough workers and qualified backups when it's time to hit the streets.

The Olympia office, which covers seven counties, still needs at least 1,000 people to apply for enumerator jobs.

"There are people out there who are tired of looking for jobs; we're trying to get them interested," said office manager Jackie Bowman. "For some it might be a concern that these are temporary jobs."

Communicator skills

Besides passing a background check, applicants for census work must be U.S. citizens, at least 18, and able to read, write and understand English. Green-card holders may be eligible, too, if, along with English, they are skilled in a language little used by available U.S. citizens.

The bureau tries to put enumerators to work in their own communities, which helps them to reassure the wary "that you are their neighbors, not a total stranger from D.C., that you are not Big Brother," said Jenny Hamilton, partnership assistant with the census office in Olympia.

Still, census officials recognize that the current political climate may challenge enumerators in ways not seen before. The Internet is also playing a wider role this year than it did a decade ago â€" spreading the message of those who feel the census has no right to ask the questions it does.

"If our people can keep some sense of humor about it all ... so much the better," Le, the census spokesman, said.

As part of standard training for enumerators across the U.S., recruits learn that the data they are collecting is confidential; they can't even tell their families the addresses where they will be when they are in the field.

They are told how to keep themselves safe â€" how to handle snarling dogs and menacing property owners. They are contacting people when they are more likely to be at home â€" in evenings and on weekends â€" but less likely to want to be disturbed.

They are advised not to enter people's homes.

"You go up to a door emboldened by your census badge," Hamilton said. "Of course, you're not supposed to be foolish. If we are threatened ... we of course leave."

Facing dogs and guns

Hamilton, who did fieldwork 10 years ago in rural parts of the state, said some homeowners there are especially wary of strangers coming to their doors.

"Sometimes they have dogs," she said. "Sometimes they have shotguns. And sometimes they have posted 'No Trespassing' signs on their property. You are trained to assume that a 'No Trespassing' sign doesn't apply to you."

Anne Marie Watson, assistant manager of administration in the Seattle office, recalls that when she did fieldwork in mostly Latino areas in Texas, enumerators were told not to dress in the typical khakis and blue shirts of immigration officers, to avoid intimidating residents.

Hamilton tells of one enumerator who, in 2000, climbed onto a rickety porch to ring the bell, only to have the door answered by a naked man. "She laughed so hard she fell through the porch and broke her ankle."

Managers say that while the job may suit people who can hold their own around strangers, there's no way to prescreen for personality traits.

"The important thing is, we never want to prejudge. All we do is count," said Leland Dart, manager of the Everett office.

"We don't care if the people who make up these households are legal or illegal. The stuff is pretty generic. And until you get in and experience it, that's where you'll either discover that it's really cool or, 'Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into?' "

[Sam A. Robrin]

If you don't particularly like people, the job of census taker is probably not for you.

What are they talking about?  If you don't particularly like people, just think of all the things you can do to them with that information!

[Tim L]

So whats the answer to the question? Can they legally ignore my signs ?

[Tom Sawyer]

Answering the door naked sounds like a good strategy... 

My crazy brother-in-law answered the door to the Jehovah's Witnesses naked... he enthusiastically invited them in for a discussion.

I don't think you can expect government to prosecute a government worker doing their "Official Duties". Have fun with them before you clam up and just stare at them.