The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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March 16, 2010

Our View: Everyone is important in census count

The Free Press

The census mailings are on their way, in fact, in many cases are here now. And Mankato area residents as well as all Minnesotans need to click open their pens and get to work.

Much is at stake with the 2010 census. It’s about maintaining our place in government, and making sure targeted funds are accurately disseminated. It’s about assessing our needs. It’s our comprehensive self-study in determining where our demographics fit, a barometer on where we go from here as individuals in this state, in this country.

Consider filling out your census forms something akin to casting a ballot in an election. Both activities are crucial to maintaining a healthy form of representative government. Except that when you don’t vote in an election, your leaders still get chosen. When you don’t fill out and return your census form, you are not counted in an exercise that requires everyone be counted in order for accurate and fair decisions to be made on a variety of levels.

Census forms being distributed to households this month are straightforward, containing simple questions that are easy to understand. It will require of us a few minutes to fill out, but it is a duty of citizenship backed by statutory requirement.

As if there aren’t already enough reasons to get out the count, Minnesotans have even more of an incentive this year to comply. The state’s current number of eight members in the U.S. House of Representatives is at stake. Demographers have warned that the number of representatives in Minnesota could change from eight to seven in the newly-drawn 2012 districts.

Here is where we are competing with other states for the comparative numbers to hold onto what we’ve got now. Various estimates have warned that as few as 1,100 people could be the difference. We simply can’t afford to take anyone for granted.

These considerations shouldn’t just boil down to money, but the fact remains census figures determine how much our state receives from federal programs. An under-count under-funds us. The count also directly affects ethnic and racial minorities and low-income persons. These are groups that have been under-counted in previous censuses, diminishing their voices.

So with all these considerations in place, it is little wonder so much has already been done to encourage census participation — the lining up of census workers, the television and print advertisements, the free merchandise (coffee mugs, pens, even flashlights and flying discs) mailed to homes and businesses. Perhaps the money spent on promoting the 2010 census is a little much. But, in fact, much is at stake.

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