ESTABLISHED 1930 • INCORPORATED 1952

Gov. JB Pritzker appeared in Macomb last Friday to promote the census before the September 30 deadline for responses. 

As of last week, Illinois was 16th in the country for “total enumeration,” or the percentage of households in the state that have been counted in the census, at 96.2 percent. The state has been above average when it comes to self-response when household representatives fill out the census themselves by mail, through the phone, or online. 

With a 70.5 percent self-response rate, Illinois is 7th in the nation, and first among states with a population over 10 million.

While the census count is normally completed by June, there is a federal lawsuit currently underway to extend the census deadline to an end date of October 31 that was at one time scheduled due to the pandemic. The Trump administration shortened the deadline by a month in July, arguing the Census Bureau and state governments needed the census to be completed earlier to have enough time for the process of drawing new congressional districts and determining representatives.

Pritzker, however, said the state is approaching the deadline as if it is officially September 30. 

The census can be filled out at 2020census.gov or by calling 844-330-2020.