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The clock is winding down for Butler Countains to fill out their Census.

As for Friday, only 56.6 percent of residents had taken the time to fill out form.

Census committee workers have faced an uphill battle thanks to the pandemic and lockdowns.

Federal officials pushed back the July 31 deadline to Sept. 30 in hopes of getting more people to fill out the Census.

On Friday, Carolyn Griffin and others held a luncheon at the Greenville Public Library’s pavilion in an effort to get people to fill out their Census.

Only a handful of people showed up.

On Thursday, the team had 20-25 people fill out the Census in an effort.

The Census benefits the local community when it comes to federal funding and grants because they are often based on population totals and breakdowns such as sex, age, race and other factors.

Responding to the Census helps the local community get its “fair share” of more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs.

In terms of economic development, industries take Census data to decide if they want to build factories, build restaurants and retail stores, which in turn helps create jobs for local residents.

Another key component of the Census is apportionment, which is the process of dividing the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives among the 50 states, based on the state population counts every 10 years.

Those who have not already filled out their Census can do so online by going to 2020census.gov or even stopping by the library. It takes less than 10 minutes to fill out.

Butler County was facing Russell County in the Census Bowl. The results were not final when the Advocate went to press. However, if Butler County and Crenshaw County both win, there will be a faceoff between the neighboring counties beginning today.