Reyes Urges El Pasoans Fill Out Census As Participation Rate Lags Behind 2000’s Rates

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes is urging El Pasoans to fill out and return their 2010 Census forms.

As of Monday, El Paso ‘s participation rate is 64 percent. In 2000, the rate was 76 percent. There are only 5 days remaining to improve the local participation rate.

It costs the government just .42 cents to receive a questionnaire back in the mail, but costs taxpayers $57 if a census taker has to go out to a house to collect the same information.

Reyes says that if every household mailed back their census form, taxpayers could reduce the cost of the census and save $1.5 billion.