Summary

The Census Bureau has added several initiatives to improve the accuracy and completeness of the population count in the 2000 Census. These initiatives include the "Be Counted" program as well as walk-in Questionnaire Assistance Centers. The Be Counted program is designed to count people who believe that they did not receive a census questionnaire, or who were otherwise omitted from the census. Aimed at traditionally hard-to-enumerate population groups, the Be Counted program is to make its forms available in various public locations, such as community centers, churches, and businesses. Questionnaire Assistance Centers are to help people--especially those who speak little or no English--complete their census questionnaires by providing assistance in several languages on a walk-in basis. The centers are also to distribute Be Counted forms. This report provides information on the status of these two programs, focusing on the steps that the Bureau has taken to address shortcomings that it encountered during the dress rehearsal.

GAO noted that: (1) the Bureau has taken several important steps to improve the Be Counted and Questionnaire Assistance Center programs following the dress rehearsal; (2) the Bureau's actions were necessary because the Bureau found that although the Be Counted program added people to the population totals, the program sites were not well targeted and people may have trouble finding Be Counted forms in places where they were supposed to be available; (3) the Bureau's findings are consistent with GAO's observations during the dress rehearsal that processes and procedures used to select, staff, and monitor site locations did not always achieve their intended results; (4) the Bureau's actions to improve the programs include providing its Regional Census Centers with guidance on selecting and operating sites, as well as developing a form for Bureau staff to track the services provided by Questionnaire Assistance Centers on a daily basis, to help ensure that they are providing intended services; (5) the 85,221 Be Counted forms distributed at the three dress rehearsal sites added 1,477 people to the population totals, or about 0.14 percent of the total population of the three sites; (6) the Bureau found that, compared with traditional mail return procedures, the Be Counted forms were more likely to include members of such typically undercounted populations as minority groups and the young; (7) if effectively implemented, the Bureau's actions could address the operational shortcomings it encountered during the dress rehearsal, by making the two programs more visible and accessible to traditionally undercounted populations; (8) nevertheless, some uncertainties remain; and (9) key among them is whether the Bureau will open as many program sites as it originally planned and whether it has the ability to monitor and maintain them.