MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County’s response to the 2020 Census lags the average for both the state and the nation.

The Census Bureau has an estimate of the number of households in each area, so it’s able to calculate a percentage of those households that have responded to the once-a-decade population count.

Initial mailings went out in late March, and as of Monday, fewer than half of Colquitt County’s households have responded.

Colquitt County’s response rate is 48.4%, according to the Census website at https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html. By comparison, the U.S. rate is 63.2% and Georgia’s is 58.9%.

Justin Cox, Colquitt County’s chief compliance officer and chairman of the local census committee, said each person not counted represents $23,000 in federal funding that won’t come to our area because many federal programs are allocated based on population.

The census is also used to draw voting districts for elected posts at the local, state and federal levels.

“Colquitt County has to get the response rates up,” Cox said. “We are behind and leaving $23,000 on the table for every person not counted. That’s over $500 million left on the table for Colquitt County right now, based on the response rates. It is not only cash-dollars but benefits like SNAP and WIC, fair and equal district lines for local, state, and federal representation, public safety funding, grants, schools and education funding. A long list of benefits!”

The committee has spent a great deal of effort trying to encourage participation in the census, but they’ve been challenged by the coronavirus pandemic.

At the most recent committee meeting, Cox said, members discussed:

• Encouraging employers to allow a 10-minute break for all employees to fill out their census forms and to allow them to use company computers to do so.

• A statewide selfie campaign where you post a photo of you and/or your family stating why the census is important and why you filled your form out.

• A booth at this past weekend’s Second Saturday event.

• A video message from community leaders, coordinated through the Chamber of Commerce.

The census can be filled out online at www.my2020census.gov.

Census workers are expected to start going door-to-door this week or next, visiting households that have not responded in an attempt to get their information.