Opinion: Census map: Watch America procrastinate <em>NOW</em>

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Way to suck up, Montana, Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Those four Northern states are the only ones that have broken into the 40% range of census participation as of Friday.

The government has put together an interactive map that shows how responsive the people in each state and county are with returning their census forms. National participation is at 29%, with the April 1 deadline less than a week away.

The Census Bureau is using a new criteria for measurement this year. Called ‘mail participation rate,’ it only counts the forms filled out and returned from households where people actually live. Previously, ‘mail response rate’ would also factor in unoccupied houses.

Drilling down to the county level, we can see that Mariposa County, at 41%, is the sole goody two shoes in California, making the rest of us look bad. Why don’t you go do some homework, Mariposa County?

It’s a little embarrassing how much entertainment we’re getting out of this map. Now, all we need is a ticker to track all of the questionable expenses people try to write off their taxes.

-- Mark Milian

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