As the U.S. Census Bureau increases its national recruitment efforts for part-time census staff, Grand Forks County has achieved 39.5% of its recruitment goal, lagging slightly behind as the application deadline looms.
Kevin Iverson, the manager of the North Dakota Census Office, said that, if North Dakota doesn't receive enough applicants to fill available jobs, workers may be brought in from other states as was done during the 2010 census.
Iverson said it's much better to have local residents canvas their areas.
"They're familiar with the area, and they understand the cultural norms," Iverson said. "And even though they may not know that individual, they certainly know somebody in common and can use that as leverage quite often to establish a rapport with them. So I think it's absolutely paramount that we get people from the local area doing this kind of work."
That trust between individuals can have a significant impact on the count, Iverson said.