Georgia lacking in census responses, what it could mean for the next decade.

ATLANTA, Ga. — The deadline to submit responses to the U.S. Census is only a week away. Currently, Georgia is ranked as one of the states with the lowest rate of participation in the survey.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot spoke with state and community leaders about the impact this could have.

You probably won’t find two people more on the opposite end of the political spectrum than the Republican speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and the executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda.

When it comes to census responses, however, they are on the same side.

“We have very few days now to get this right, but we’re going to live with the consequences for 10 years,” Republican State Rep. David Ralston said.

He said few things right now are more important than the U.S. Census.

“I think it’s something we should be concerned about,” Ralston said.

Georgia ranks 46 in the nation for census responses.

Ralston points out that if Georgia performs poorly in the census, that could mean millions, if not billions, of federal dollars lost over the next 10 years.

It also might mean that Georgia loses one of its congressional seats.

“It’s so important, and so I’m hoping other leaders will begin to speak out and hoping people at the community level will start talking to their neighbors and engage on this,” Ralston said.

Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, said the census is not a political issue. It’s about money.

Butler is also encouraging Georgians to fill out the forms.

If they don’t, it could impact federal dollars for health care, food stamps, child care and other community needs, she said.

Like Ralston, Butler said this is truly a nonpartisan issue.

“It’s not about politics,” she said. “It’s about survival of our communities, and it’s really our tax dollars.”

The issue is so urgent, the governor has called a news conference for Thursday to urge people to complete their forms on paper or online at census.gov.

Census workers go door-to-door for responses as deadline looms

Cox Media Group