The Census is a much more complicated undertaking than a simple roll call. Because of language, cultural, and geographic barriers, some communities are orders of magnitude more difficult to survey than others. And because a 1999 Supreme Court ruling prohibits the use of statistical sampling to correct the results, Census officials have to get it right the first time.

The New York Times recently examined three communities to illustrate the unique challenges Census-takers face, starting with Wolford, North Dakota (population 50), which already boasts a 100% participation rate in the mail survey:

“Why wouldn’t you send it right back?” asked Jim Wolf, who has been mayor here so long that he cannot recall what year he took office. “It’s a rural community,” said Mr. Wolf, who is also the volunteer fire squad chief, “and I guess we go by the rules.”

In fact, some who have yet to receive their forms here (the census does not mail the questionnaires to post office boxes) have raised a bit of a stink among the farmers who gather for morning coffee at the farm supply business Mr. Wolf manages and at the one-room post office where Lynn Walsh hands out the mail.

But things aren’t so easy for the Census Bureau in other small towns. Officials are working overtime to try and boost participation in rural and heavily African-American Issaquena County in the Mississippi Delta region, where there’s only one person for them to count for every 116 acres:

Issaquena County and the entire Delta is plagued by poverty and illiteracy. People mistrust census takers for a variety of reasons, including a belief that the government is trying to catch them doing something illegal like misrepresenting the number of people in their household, which could affect benefits like food stamps, said Calvin Stewart, a Rolling Fork alderman, teacher, high school sports referee and spokesman for the town’s new antilitter campaign. (…)

Community groups in the area have done their best to calm fears and increase participation. They have recorded radio broadcasts and arranged P.T.A. presentations, enlisted pastors and formed Complete Count Committees. They have given practice tests to help local residents get census jobs, believing they will be less skittish about approaching houses and will be less likely to evoke a hostile response.

Issaquena’s participation in the mail survey is currently only 28% so far, compared to 53% in Hinds County (containing Jackson, MS) and 60% nationally.

Meanwhile, confusion is running rampant in immigrant communities in New York City, which probably poses the Census Bureau’s biggest test in terms of language:

At Masjid Aqsa, a Harlem mosque, Imam Soulemaine Konaté said that many of his congregants, French-speaking African immigrants who know very little English, threw away their census forms. He said they thought the envelopes addressed to “resident” were meant for someone else.

In Jackson Heights, Queens, volunteers for New Immigrant Community Empowerment who talked to day laborers on street corners often heard them say, “Eso no es para mí,” or “This is not for me,” dismissing the census as something important only for citizens and legal immigrants, said Valeria Treves, the group’s executive director.

In Flushing, which has the largest concentration of Asian immigrants in the city, the participation rate in some areas was as low as 25 percent, and after a few hours with the MinKwon volunteers, it was easy to see why. Aside from the linguistic isolation and fear of deportation, many people had no idea of the census’s purpose, why it matters or who should fill it out.

The reason the Census matters, of course, is that political representation and billions in federal funding at stake – something Census officials and community volunteers are still trying to drive home.

A Monday afternoon joint session of the North Dakota legislature helped put the flood crisis in that state in stark relief. While most lawmakers heard an update from North Dakota’s National Guard Commander, Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, some members of the State House and Senate remained in Fargo, desperate to defend their homes from the high waters threatening North Dakota’s largest city.

Due to blizzard conditions that have enveloped the capitol, the legislature is not expected to decide until Wednesday morning whether it will convene for the day. During today’s session, Sprynczynatyk described the extent of his agency’s $40 million response to the flooding:

During his briefing to lawmakers, Sprynczynatyk said 2,400 National Guard members are helping to fight rising floodwaters in North Dakota, the largest task force ever assembled in the state. He called the flooding "epic in nature."

He said Guard members are strategically stationed throughout Fargo and the surrounding areas in case of an emergency.

National Guard members also are protecting the man-made dikes that have been erected throughout Fargo. One person was arrested over the weekend when authorities found the person stealing sandbags off a dike.

"You have to deal with the human element, as well," Sprynczynatyk said.

The thoughts and prayers of all of us at the DLCC are with the people of North Dakota in this trying time.

Nathan Thomas is a researcher and communications assistant for the DLCC.