FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2020
Contact: Linda DeBerry
Communications Program Manager
(479) 525-8356
ldeberry@fayetteville-ar.gov
Fayetteville to Hold Drive-In Census Roundup AND VOTER REGISTRATION on Saturday
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark—The City of Fayetteville is holding a drive-in census “round-up” from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, August 22, in the Spring Street Parking Deck, located at the corner of Spring Street and N. School Avenue in Fayetteville. The event will provide households with limited or no access to high-speed internet an opportunity to complete their 2020 census online, and earn a $10 Walmart gift card for participating.
UPDATE: The City is now working with the League of Women Voters to offer voter registration as well as help with the 2020 census at this event! VOlunteers from the LOWV will be present with registration forms. To register to vote, you must be a citizen of the United States; age 18 or older on Election Day, November 3, 2020; and never have been convicted of a felony. You will need to provide your driver’s license number OR the last four digits of your social security number to register. A sample of the Arkansas voter registration form can be found here: https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/uploads/elections/ArkansasVoterRegistrationApplication.pdf
The round-up will take place inside the Spring Street entrance to the parking deck. Participants will drive up, park in one of the reserved spaces on the ground floor of the deck, and a volunteer will provide each vehicle with an iPad with the census website already opened on it. Once participants have completed their questionnaire, they can show the completed form screen to the volunteers to receive a $10 gift card. (One gift card per household.) All iPads will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between each use, and staff, volunteers, and participants must wear masks.
“The 2020 census is the first one in history to be conducted primarily online, and yet not everyone has access to high-speed internet,” explained Linda DeBerry, staff liaison to the City’s census complete count committee. “A drive-through census round-up makes is possible for these folks to complete their forms quickly and safely and avoid the inconvenience of having a census worker come to their home to complete the form in person.”
For more information about the roundup, visit www.fayetteville-ar.gov/census.
The purpose of the US Census, held once every ten years, is to count every individual living in the United States. The data collected by the census is used to distribute more than $600 billion in federal funding for a host of programs, including school lunches, Pell grants, work education programs, transportation, health programs, and much more. In order for each city and state to receive all the funding to which it is entitled, it is vital that everybody within the community be counted.
The census form is completed by household and features only a few questions, including the name, birth date, gender and racial / ethnic background of each person who was living in the household on April 1, 2020. There are no questions regarding income, citizenship status, or employment. The form takes ten to 15 minutes to complete online.
The 2020 Census forms may be completed through the end of September, 2020. For more information, or to complete your census online, visit the US Census Bureau website: http://www.2020census.gov.
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