The Twenty-third United States Census, known as Census 2010, will be the next national census in the United States. The census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790, as required by the United States Constitution, with the previous one completed in 2000. 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.

Major changes

The Census Bureau website states it will no longer use a long form for the 2010 Census.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, gender, age, date of birth, race, and homeownership status.

Detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey.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.

Cost

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

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.This will be the first census to use hand-held computing devices with GPS capability. Unlike the 2000 census, an Internet response option will not be offered.

Same-sex marriage

In June 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it would count same-sex married couples. However, technical problems with current Census software may affect whether they are included in the census as “married” or whether they will be listed as “unmarried partners.” As of January 1, 2010 (2010 -01-01), the District of Columbia and five states - Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire - allow marriages between partners of any sex combination to be performed by the state. In addition, 18,000 same-sex couples in California were married in 2008.[10] Also, New York recognizes marriages between partners of the same sex performed in other states to be legal.
Marketing

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.In September 2009, after undercover exposé videos of questionable activities by staff of one of these community organizations were made public, the partnership of ACORN in the 2010 United States Census was terminated.

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.
Projections

One projection for changes in representation in the House of Representatives based on 2000-2009 growth rate from the Census Bureau’s population estimates is in the tables to the right.

Missouri was projected to lose one of its nine seats, but the chance to retain all nine “is more likely now than it was previously” according to the 2009 U.S. Census Bureau population estimated figures from July 1.

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.His death was later ruled a suicide made to look like a murder in order not to nullify his life insurance.

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.

The term “Negro”, will be used in the questionnaire, alongside “African American” and “Black” to describe one’s race, because some older African Americans 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”.The word was also used in the 2000 Census, with over 56,000 people identifying themselves as “negro.”

Some Libertarians, such as Bob Barr feel that the census has become too intrusive, going beyond the scope intended by the authors of the U.S. Constitution. The text of the Constitution concerning the census, in Article I, Section 2 states: “The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.” Because the Constitution specifically authorizes an “Enumeration” (counting), some feel that the federal government has no authority to force citizens to answer questions beyond that which establishes the number of people living in the household. 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.In June 2009, Rep. Michele Bachmann stated that she would not fully complete the census form and mentioned the U.S. Census bureau’s hand in rounding up Japanese-Americans for internment camps; she has since softened her anti-Census position.Another controversy includes various objections to the counting of persons who are illegally in the United States.