In an effort to reach its goal of counting everyone in the United States, the U.S. Census Bureau started dispatching door-to-door census takers May 1 to follow up with households that did not return census forms.

The door-to-door operation will last through July, Census Bureau Evanston representative Craig Sklenar said. About 76 percent of all questionnaires in Evanston have been returned, but the final number won’t be available until 2011, he said.

Sklenar said the city is happy with the return rate, which is up from 75 percent in 2000.

“The number is fantastic considering a lot has changed in the last 10 years,” he said. “We were concerned that, because of the recession, the number would go down.”

The recession shifted the structure of many households, Sklenar said, and people might have been reluctant to answer the census out of fear of violating housing regulations.

Census takers first provide a confidentiality statement to the household and then take down the information required to successfully complete the census questionnaire, said Muriel Jackson, media specialist for the Chicago Regional Census Center.

If a household does not initially respond to the census taker, a notice of visit is posted with a number to call for a scheduled appointment, she said.

If there is no response after six failed contact attempts-either by phone or in person-the census taker gathers information about the household from neighbors or building managers. That information is reported on the census taker’s note forms, Jackson said.

A census hot line is available for those who want to call in their information at (866)-872-6868. A census taker will then visit the household to verify the information, Jackson said.

Jackson said census workers are committed to reaching as many people as they can.

“We had a broad outreach and media campaign,” Jackson said. “Now we’re going to be out there and we’re going to get the information that’s legally required.”

– ALEX RUDANSKY