Laurel Leader Call: Citizens warned of Census fraud

From the Laurel Leader Call:

It won’t be long before workers begin formulating the 2010 Census, and Laurel resident Susan Clanan wants the area’s citizens to be ready.


Clanan voiced her concerns this week about possible fraud involved in the process.

“I called the Mississippi Governor’s Office and they said a questionnaire would be coming through the mail,” she said. “You shouldn’t let census workers into your home.”

Clanan said she had a family member in Illinois who allowed someone into her home for the census.

“They asked all kinds of questions about her house,” she said. “There have even been instances where people posed as census workers. I want people to know that when the census comes around to not let anyone into their house. All they have to do is fill out what comes to them in the mail and send it back.”

Clanan noted that participating in the census is a requirement for all U.S. citizens.

“I just want to protect the seniors,” she said. “There’s no knocking on doors, sitting down in the living room and asking intimate questions about where you live.”

According to the Mississippi Governor’s Website, the Census “sometimes called ‘Uncle Sam’s Headcount,’ is essentially a count of every person living within the United States. Census data is utilized by a variety of public and private organizations and, most importantly, is used to determine the share of federal funding available to states based on their current population.”

For more information, visit www.governorbarbour.com/features/census2010.html