''The law states statistics filled in prior to or on that day [census day]. If you're signing it, you're signing a document you can't guarantee.''
He said his conversation with a census collector lasted no more than two minutes and there was no talk of any repercussions.
A charging document which Sanders received a fortnight ago outlines one prior visit when Mr Sanders refused the census form packs. Two refusal letters, and a notice of liability were also sent to Mr Sanders' address with census forms to complete.
''I'm pretty certain they didn't,'' he said.
A Stats NZ spokesman confirmed seven cases in the Otago and Southland districts. Three had been convicted and fined and one other had been convicted but had escaped a fine.
Mr Sanders is one of two yet to appear in Otago.
The handling of gathering the census last year has come under heavy criticism.
Stats NZ announced last month 89% of the total number of records come from 2018 census forms and 11% comes from other government data.
National MP Nick Smith claimed the total number of partial respondents and non-respondents totalled 700,000.
A Stats NZ spokesman said while it was a legal requirement to take part in the census, it was not practical to prosecute everyone who had not taken part.
''Cases have been prioritised based on a number of criteria, including whether there was an active refusal to take part in the census or a strong negative or abusive attitude displayed towards census staff.''
Mr Sanders said it was ''unfair to pick out a handful of people''.
Last month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Government would spend $6million to remedy census issues.
Minister of Statistics James Shaw also announced $10million would be provided to enable Stats NZ to get ahead of the next census.
Stats NZ will begin releasing the census data from September 23.
