What is the American Community Survey?

To prepare for the 2010 Census, Voss helped develop the American Community Survey. The ACS is a new census program that conducts surveys on a monthly basis, asking a small percentage of residents to answer a detailed survey. The ACS is already being piloted in 37 test sites, and has a response rate of 98 percent. The Census Bureau hopes that by 2010, the ACS will provide enough information that everyonewill only need to fill out the short form of the census.

Why does the ACS get such a high response rate? Because the enumerators zero in on a few non-responders and don’t take “no” for an answer. If people don’t respond when they get the survey, an enumerator calls them. If they still don’t respond, they get a personal interview at their door. And in that final interview, “The enumerators are trained to break down your resistance,” Voss says.

Voss also helped determine which 37 sites in the pilot effort got the ACS. “I urged the Census Bureau to test it in counties where the winter and summer populations differ,” he says. That’s why Oneida and Vilas counties are testing the ACS. “It’s not a one-time count like a snapshot. It’s a rolling video over time,” he says.

Recently, the Census Bureau team that developed the ACS received a “Hammer Award” from the National Partnership for Reinventing Government for their efforts to make government run better and cost less.” The bureau was very kind in including me in that award,” Voss says.