More junk mail?

Yesterday, I received my census questionnaire in the mail.


Except I didn’t realize it was my census questionnaire and nearly threw it out. The envelope looked almost identical to credit card offers, or any other junk mail I would get in a given day. I consider myself savvy enough to understand the need for the census and implications of not filling it out. What I do not understand is why the Census Bureau did not do a better job at packaging their product. If someone who was looking out for the form nearly threw it away, what will be its fate with the apathetic?

While the Bureau has certainly gotten the word out about the census, the importance of the process is still not clearly spelled out. The influence on public institutions, including schools, is unmistakable. On the political side, New York alone could lose 2 congressional seats as a result of people not filling out surveys. This is of course well known by those who are fortunate enough to understand the implications of the census. For the rest of the population, the census must seem like just another questionnaire. Is it too late to remedy the situation without having to send an army of census workers to interrupt dinner? How can we make sure that the census does not go in the same place as junk mail…the bin?