Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Census ducked in rural Maine

By Ethan Wilensky-Lanford ewlanford@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Fewer than half of census forms mailed to homes or left at doors in Franklin, Piscataquis and Washington counties this year were returned, according to federal data.

The national participation rate was 72 percent as of April 27, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Kennebec, Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties all met or exceeded this rate.

Data from the census are used to draw congressional districts and determine how much money the state is eligible to receive from the federal government.

Census officials attributed the low response rate in many communities to a high proportion of summer residents. Grand Lake Stream, for example, had only a 21 percent participation rate.

Census officials will not mail forms to post office boxes, so workers dropped off forms at homes in rural areas.

But people are more likely to throw out a form that is left at their door than one that is mailed in an official envelope, said Rick Theriault, manager of the census office in Bangor responsible for Penobscot, Somerset, Aroostook and Piscataquis counties.

He said that Piscataquis County, which had a participation rate of only 48 percent, probably has more camps and houses than residents.

Some people did not respond to the questionnaire and refused to be counted by follow-up workers, officials said, because they do not trust the government.

"There are those people that feel that they should not participate and we should not bother them," said Terry Drake, manager of the office in Augusta that handles the survey for eight counties. "Generally, what we find is that, when we are able to explain the process to people -- and that it is not as intrusive as they believe -- they are willing to comply and give us the information that we need."

Drake added that he has not observed a shift in the number of people who refuse to respond to the census during the past decade.

Many people who did not wish to be counted incorrectly believed that they would have to report their Social Security numbers and whether they owned guns, he said.

Ethan Wilensky-Lanford -- 620-7016

ewlanford@mainetoday.com