Edwards says too few in Louisiana have responded to census

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. John Bel Edwards is urging more Louisiana residents to respond to the 2020 U.S. Census.

He says the state’s participation rate is among the lowest in the nation.

About 56% of Louisiana households have responded to the census online, by mail or by phone so far.

That’s compared to a national rate topping 61%.

Edwards says Louisiana ranks 44th in the nation and last in the Deep South in its participation rate.

Census data determines how many members of Congress a state has and is used to divvy up significant sums of federal dollars that flow to states.