Less than 60% of Butler County counted by census

The country is heading toward the end of census counting, but Butler County turnout is reportedly lower than the state average.

As of Friday, 57.5% of Butler County residents had filled out the census compared to 65% of Missourians and 65.5% of U.S. citizens.

People can report to the census until Sept. 30.

Butler County Emergency Management Director Robbie Myers called these good numbers overall, but still could hurt the area.

“That would hurt us in representation and different funding things,” he said. “Whether it’s education, public safety, broadband, a variety of things use census data and census block information. If not everybody in the area is counted, then that impacts us in a negative way.”

Census data is used to draw lines for congressional districts, the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives and city council wards.

“They will be redrawn after the census to make them equal in population,” Myers said. “If certain neighborhoods aren’t counted, that makes it harder for it to actually be as fairly represented as possible.”

Myers said census takers are out in Southeast Missouri, going door-to-door. They will visit a household six times before giving up. They’re working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. visiting households.

The census takers in the region have a 77.7% completion rate, Myers said, which means either getting hold of somebody or going six times and gathering as much information as they can.

“They (census officials) have done a good job of taking those households that they knew hadn’t responded and sending them (takers) there,” he said. “There’s still a chunk (not counted).”

Myers is also on the Missouri State Complete Counts Committee, which he said has wrapped up work except for the final report.

People can still return their mail-in census form, fill it out online at my2020census.gov, call the toll free number 844-330-2020 or respond through the census takers.

“It will make a difference for the next decade,” Myers said.