State stands to gain money, pull

COLUMBIA -- By answering 10 questions, South Carolina residents can bring money and influence to the state.

If more South Carolinians respond to the 2010 census, the state could gain an additional seat in the U.S. House and at least $60 million more a year in federal cash for roads, vocational education, college scholarships, health care, crime victims and small businesses.

In 2000, the state had the nation's second-worst response rate for mail-in forms and an estimated 48,000 people were missed or didn't respond at all to the last census. As a consequence, part of South Carolina's share of $400 billion in annual federal aid has been sent to other states for the last decade.

Counties miss $50 a year for every person who is not counted in the census and cities lose $30 a person.

The more people a state has, the larger its share. The formula to distribute the money is based in part on census data.

The 2010 census will be mailed to most households in mid-March while some forms will be delivered by hand. Duplicate forms will be mailed on April 1. For households that don't respond by mail, census takers will go door to door.

The form is blue, black and white and includes 10 basic questions for the first person in the household to respond to, mostly regarding that person's demographics. Seven similar questions are included for each additional person in the home.

The form has no questions about citizenship or residency status.

Census takers want residents to know that by law the U.S. Census Bureau cannot share the responses with other federal agencies or law enforcement officials. Violating privacy protections could lead to $250,000 in fines and five years in jail.

Rania Jamison, the state's public information coordinator for the 2010 census, said that confidentiality promise should add assurance for more people to respond, including illegal immigrants or South Carolina citizens who want the government to stay out of their business.

She served as a census taker in 2000.

"One of the things I also found was that people who did not return their forms didn't understand how important those forms were," Jamison said. "They just saw it as another piece of mail."

Like it or not, illegal immigrants put a strain on the state's resources, including roads, schools and hospitals, and if they're counted the state will have more money to improve the infrastructure for everyone.

"The state of South Carolina doesn't set the rules about who gets counted in the census, but we've got to play by the rules," said Michael Sponhour, director of public affairs for the state Budget and Control Board. "The rules of the census have been, since the first census, that everyone who is a resident in the United State is to be counted."

South Carolina also is close to having the population needed to add a seventh seat in Congress, which the state lost after the 1930 census as residents moved North for jobs. It also could mean more sway in presidential elections with an additional vote in the Electoral College.

The U.S. Constitution requires a count of all the people living in the country. Since 1790, the census has been taken every 10 years.

Bobby Bowers, director of the Office of Research and Statistics for the state Budget and Control Board, has led many initiatives since 2007 to make sure as many residents are counted as possible. That included a laborious process to update addresses, workshops for local officials and efforts with educators to ensure that illiteracy does not stop people from being counted.

Bowers said he believes the number of people estimated to have been missed in the 2000 census is off.

"I think it's much higher than 48,000," he said. "Every person who is counted now means money and representation."

In the 1990 census, the count missed an estimated 72,000 individuals.

Nationally, many other outreach efforts are planned. Tony Jones, who works in media relations for the U.S. Census Bureau, said an advertising campaign is planned for after the New Year that will put more census commercials on television than ads for McDonalds. The campaign will target areas that are historically hard to reach, including predominately Hispanic and black communities.

Jones said the bureau also will be looking to temporarily hire as many as 1,700 people at $14 an hour to help count residents in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties between late March and July.

Money lost

An estimated 48,000 people in South Carolina were missed in the 2000 census. For every South Carolina resident who is not counted, the state loses $1,200 a year in federal money that is shifted to another state with a higher population.

Takers wanted

The U.S. Census Bureau could hire as many as 1,700 people at $14 an hour to help count residents in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties for the 2010 census. The work would be temporary and run from late March or early April to July.

The job requires basic skills, including the ability to read a map. Applicants must be at least 18 and have a driver's license and access to a vehicle.

To find out more information, check out www.2010census.gov or call 1-866-861-2010.