Americans Get Mixed Messages About Census

(April 6) -- Mail back your census form and be counted. The Constitution requires it.

Don't participate. Some of the questions on that form are unconstitutional.

People are getting conflicting messages from the government and its critics about this year's national head count. Now, to add to the confusion, millions are getting a duplicate copy of the census form, even if they've already completed their questionnaire.

What should you do?

First, an explanation from the Census Bureau. It announced today that it's mailing second forms to about 40 million homes in areas where response was low in the 2000 census. If you've already sent back your first form, you can ignore the duplicate. If not, the bureau is urging you to respond by the middle of this month so it won't have to send a census taker to your home -- which is much more expensive than gathering the data by mail.

The second mailing could boost participation by seven to 10 percentage points, which would save taxpayers more than $500 million, according to Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.

The cost of promoting the 2010 census is just one of the objections some conservatives have raised. Michelle Malkin called the $15 million advertising campaign -- which included commercials such as this on the Super Bowl -- a "boondoggle." Besides that, Malkin claimed, it's all part of a scheme by Democrats to count illegal immigrants and "ensure a permanent ruling majority."

Not to be outdone, Glenn Beck argued that the census asks questions about race "to try to increase slavery ... your dependence on the master in Washington."

But even Beck didn't buy Rep. Michele Bachmann's claim that the government could use the head count to send people to internment camps. Last summer, the Minnesota Republican vowed not to complete her census form because she feared the information would be abused. Fellow Republican lawmakers pointed out that an undercount could mean her state would lose one of its congressional districts -- most likely Bachmann's. That appears unlikely now because mail response in her district is running way above the national average.

While some conservatives raised suspicions about the census, Rush Limbaugh complained that he never received his form. He also charged on his radio show April 2 that the Census Bureau is overlooking some Republican areas.

Fears that their party could end up being shortchanged has driven some in the GOP to denounce the fearmongering from critics. In a post on the blog Red State, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina expressed his concern about "blatant misinformation coming from otherwise well-meaning conservatives."

"Anyone who tells you that this year's census is unconstitutional and that you are not required to fill out the form completely is flat-out wrong," McHenry wrote. "Few things will make Nancy Pelosi happier than large numbers of conservatives failing to respond to the census. If we do not respond, we will not be counted, and if we are not counted, then we effectively will not exist."

Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's political adviser, stars in one new census ad. "The current distrust of Washington should not discourage people from being counted," Rove explained in an e-mail to The Washington Post.

Another commercial features 98-year-old civil rights activist Dorothy Height encouraging minorities to participate. (Click here to watch the video.) The Census Bureau is also appealing to immigrants -- legal and illegal -- with billboards and commercials in Korean, Russian, Arabic and many other languages.

Gay rights leaders have launched a campaign called "Queer the Census." George Takei, who played Sulu on "Star Trek," appears with his husband Brad Altman in one ad. They tell gays and lesbians who live with a partner that they can check the box on the form for "husband or wife" if they consider themselves married -- or check "unmarried partner" if they prefer. (Click here to watch the video.) Transgender people can check the box for the sex they identify with.

The national average mail-in rate is above 60 percent so far, according to the Census Bureau. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska are the top five states in participation. States with the lowest rates include Alaska, California, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. To see how your community measures up, check this page.