2010 United States Census

The Twenty-third United States Census, known as Census 2010 or the 2010 Census, is the current national census in the United States. National Census Day was April 1, 2010 and is the reference date used in enumerating (counting) individuals.^[1] The 2010 Census featured a renewed emphasis on getting an accurate count, an emphasis that included the hiring of 635,000 temporary enumerators.^[2][3]

President Obama completing his census form in the Oval Office on March 29, 2010.

Introduction

As required by the United States Constitution, the U.S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U.S. Census was the previous census completed. Participation in the U.S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code.^[4]

On January 25, 2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, a resident of Noorvik, Alaska.^[5] Census forms began to be delivered March 15, 2010. The number of forms mailed out or hand delivered by the Census Bureau was about 134 million.^[6] Although the questionnaire used April 1 as the reference date as to where a person was living, an insert dated March 15, 2010 included the following printed in bold type: "Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today."

As of August 10, 2010 (2010 -08-10)^[update], the national participation rate was 72%.^[7] From April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called "non-response follow-up" (NRFU). In December 2010, the Census Bureau will deliver population information to the President for apportionment, and in March 2011 complete redistricting data will be delivered to states.^[8]

Major changes

The Census Bureau website states it will no longer use a long form for the 2010 Census.^[9] In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, which asked for detailed social and economic information. The 2010 Census will use only a short form asking ten basic questions, including name, sex, age, date of birth, ethnicity, race, and homeownership status.^[9] And in contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option will not be offered nor will the form be available for download.^[9][10]

Detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey.^[10] The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a yearly basis rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a rotating basis will receive the survey each year, and no household will receive it more than once every five years.^[11]

In June 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it would count same-sex married couples. However, the final form did not contain a separate "same-sex married couple" option. When noting the relationship between household members, same-sex couples who are married could mark their spouses as being "Husband or wife", the same response given by opposite-sex married couples. An "unmarried partner" option was available for couples (whether same-sex or opposite-sex) who were not married.^[12]

Cost

The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2004 that the cost of the 2010 Census would be over $11 billion.^[13] In a detailed report to Congress, it called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues.^[14]

Lockheed Martin won a six-year, $500 million contract to capture and standardize data for the census. The contract includes systems, facilities, and staffing. Information technology will be about a quarter of the projected $11.3 billion cost of the decennial census.^[15] This was the first census to use hand-held computing devices with GPS capability, although they were only used for the address canvassing operation. The Census Bureau chose to conduct the primary operation, Non-Response Follow Up (NRFU) without using the handheld computing devices.^[16][17]

In August 2010, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced that the census operational costs came in significantly under budget; of an almost $7 billion operational budget:^[18]

• $650 million was saved in the budget for the door-to-door questioning (a.k.a. NRFU) phase because 72 percent of households returned mailed questionnaires;
• $150 million was saved because of lower-than-planned costs in areas including Alaska and tribal lands; and
• the $800 million emergency fund ended up not being needed.

Secretary Locke credited the management practices of Census Bureau Director Robert Groves, citing in particular the decision to buy additional advertising in locations where responses lagged, which improved the overall response rate. The agency also has begun to rely more on questioning neighbors or other third parties when a person couldn't be immediately reached at home, which reduced the cost of follow-up visits. Census data for roughly 22 percent, or more than 1 in 5, of U.S. households that didn't reply by mail were based on such outside interviews, Groves said.^[18]

Marketing and undercounts

Due to allegations surrounding the previous censuses that poor people and people of color are routinely undercounted, this time the Census Bureau has tried to avoid that bias by enlisting tens of thousands of intermediaries, such as churches, charities and firms, to explain to people the importance of being counted.^[6]

In April 2009, the Census Bureau announced that it intended to work with community organizations in an effort to count all illegal immigrants in the United States for the census.^[19]

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was given a contract to help publicize the importance of the census count and to encourage individuals to fill out their forms. In September 2009, after controversial undercover videos supposedly revealed four ACORN staffers giving illegal tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute, ACORN's contract with the Census Bureau was terminated.^[20] Various American celebrities like Demi Lovato and Eva Longoria Parker^[21] have created public service announcements targeting younger people to fill out census forms. Wilmer Valderrama and Rosario Dawson have helped spread census awareness among young Hispanics, an historically low participating ethnicity in the US Census.^[22] Rapper Ludacris has also helped spread awareness of the 2010 Census.^[23]

The Census Bureau hired about 635,000 people to try to obtain census information from those living in the US that failed to return their forms; as of May 28, 2010, 113 census workers have been victims of crime while conducting the census.^[3] As of June 29, there were 436 incidents involving assaults or threats against enumerators through June more than double the 181 incidents in 2000; one enumerator, attempting to hand-deliver the census forms to a Hawaii County police officer, was arrested for trespassing by the officer's fellow policemen.^[2]

Some political conservatives and libertarians have questioned the validity of the questions and even encouraged people to refuse to answer questions for privacy and constitutional reasons.^[24] Michelle Bachmann, a conservative Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, has stated she will not fill out her census form other than to indicate the number of people living in her household because "the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."^[25] Former Republican Representative and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr feels that the census has become too intrusive, going beyond mere enumeration (i.e., count) intended by the framers of the U.S. Constitution.^[26] According to political commentator Juan Williams, "Census participation rates have been declining since 1970, and if conservatives don't participate, doubts about its accuracy and credibility may become fatal."^[24]

As a result, the Census Bureau undertook an unprecedented ad campaign targeted at encouraging white political conservatives to fill out their forms, in the hope of avoiding an undercount of this group. The 2010 U.S. Census was the primary sponsor at NASCAR races in Atlanta, Bristol, and Martinsville, and had its name painted on a NASCAR vehicle, since a marketing survey showed that around 75% of NASCAR fans lean politically right. It also ran a census ad during the Super Bowl, and hired singer Marie Osmond, who is thought to have many conservative fans, to publicize the census.^[24]

Likely changes in U.S. Representatives^[27]

State	Change	New
Texas	!B9986137056388 4	38
Arizona	!C 1	9
Florida	!C 1	26
Georgia	!C 1	14
Nevada	!C 1	4
South Carolina	!C 1	7
Utah	!C 1	4
Washington[28]	!C 1	10
Illinois	!I 1	18
Iowa	!I 1	4
Louisiana	!I 1	6
Massachusetts	!I 1	9
Michigan	!I 1	14
Minnesota	!I 1	7
New Jersey	!I 1	12
New York	!I 1	28
Pennsylvania	!I 1	18
Ohio	!J0006931471805 2	16

2012 election

The results of the 2010 census will determine the number of seats each state receives in the United States House of Representatives starting with the 2012 elections. Consequently, this will also affect the number of votes that states receive in the Electoral College for the 2012 presidential election.

One projection for changes in representation in the House of Representatives based on 2000–2009 growth rate from the Census Bureau's population estimates shows a change in 11 seats, with Texas gaining four and Ohio losing two.^[27]

Controversy

On September 12, 2009, census worker Bill Sparkman, 51, was found hanged in Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky with the word "fed" written on his chest.^[29][30] His death was later ruled a suicide made to look like a murder, in an attempt to retain his life insurance benefits.^[31]

Some object to the counting of persons who are in the United States illegally.^[32][33] The Republican senators David Vitter and Bob Bennett tried unsuccessfully to add questions on immigration status on the new form.^[6]

Organizations such as the Prison Policy Initiative argue that the Census counts of incarcerated men and women as residents of prisons, rather than of their pre-incarceration addresses, will skew political clout and result in misleading demographic and population data.^[34]

The term "Negro" is used in the questionnaire (Question 9. What is Person (number)'s race? ... Black, African Am., or Negro) as a choice to describe one's race. Some older Blacks still identify with the term, while others find it outdated and offensive. Census Bureau spokesman Jack Martin stated that, "Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do. Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included".^[35][36] The word was also used in the 2000 Census, with over 56,000 people identifying themselves as "Negro."^[37]

The 2010 census contains ten questions about age, gender, ethnicity, home ownership, and household relationships. Six of the ten questions are intended to be answered by each individual in the household. Current federal law has provisions for fining those who refuse to complete the census form.^[38]

A pending lawsuit Clemens et al. v. Department of Commerce et al. seeks a court order for Congress to reapportion the House of Representatives with a greater number of members following the 2010 Census, to rectify under- and over-representation of some states with the 435 rule. If this occurs, this would also affect Electoral College apportionment for the 2012 - 2020 presidential elections.^[39]

References

External links

• 2010 Census
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Toolkit for Reaching Latinos (US Census Bureau)

United States Censuses (Census Bureau) 1790 • 1800 • 1810 • 1820 • 1830 • 1840 • 1850 • 1860 • 1870 1880 • 1890 • 1900 • 1910 • 1920 • 1930 • 1940 • 1950 1960 • 1970 • 1980 • 1990 • 2000 • 2010