Next year the Department of Commerce will conduct the 2010 Census. The results of this census will have far ranging consequences on America. The Census will change the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, as well as, the number of electoral votes a state has in the Electoral College. The way in which this Census is planned to be conducted has a number of problems. Firstly, the Census will not differentiate between U.S. Citizens, residents, and illegal aliens. Secondly, there are some groups who will be on the ground conducting the Census, who have a questionable past such as ACORN with their ethic’s violations. Lastly, the Census has already been classified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as a high risk program that is likely to suffer from fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The results of this census could very well unlawfully effect the next Presidential election and Congress.

It is vitally important that the representatives in Congress represent the views and opinions of U.S. citizens. If the Census is conducted without differentiating between citizens and non-citizens, representatives will be added to Congress wrongfully. For example there are some 5 million non-residents estimated in the state of California. With a representative for every 650,000 citizens (in this case people), California would gain 8 seats in Congress (rounded up). Now, since there are a maximum number of allowable seats in the House of Representatives, a state or states would lose seats to make room for the 8 seats gained by California. When this happens, the census has effectively stripped U.S. citizens of Representatives in Congress, while giving Representatives to non U.S. citizens. There are very few other instances of anything more unlawful and unconstitutional than this occurrence. There will be those who will argue that there might be repercussions for those who admit that they are illegal aliens. At best, that argument is based on skepticism. It is vastly more important to correctly represent American citizens in Congress. It is important that the Census document the citizenship of people residing in America. Congress must require the Department of Commerce to include the citizenship criteria in the 2010 census. If it does not happen, the problem will be exacerbated in the following censuses. Additionally, as each election goes by, the American people will be increasingly misrepresented in Congress.

As far as the people who will be actually carrying out the census, there are bound to be those who have a hidden agenda. Large scale misrepresentation can happen. I am confident that a wide majority will carry out the census properly. There will always be a few bad apples. A thorough audit of each entry is not timely or financially feasible. Perhaps random records can be tested for authenticity. The problem arises however, in how this test will actually be carried out. There are privacy concerns with the government handling large quantities of private data and comparing them between databases. The only other options would be a system that allows citizens to valid the data themselves separately, perhaps over the web. The problem with this strategy is that the necessary private data would be available on the web. Viable census authenticity efforts need to be explored and implemented. Any wide spread fraud will be devastating to the political framework and to the people’s confidence in the government.

The GAO assessment that the 2010 census is a high risk program illustrates the difficulties that the Department of Commerce is having in carrying out their constitutionally required task. Billions of dollars have been spent to equip census workers with hand held electronic devices that are supposed to perform the census more effective and cheaper. These devices are the cornerstone of the GAO assessment. The devices have failed to meet requirements, have not been effectively tested, and are subject to cost overruns. Specifically, the GAO states that proper risk mitigation procedures have not been implemented.
The combination of these weakness’s and vulnerabilities in the upcoming census creates a situation for the worst to happen. Congress must require the census to account for citizenship to accurately adjust seats in congress. Efforts need to be made to minimize misrepresentation of census data, and the Department of Commerce has to be held accountable for any failures that occur during the census. The 2010 census has taken a back seat to current events, such as the economic recession and the debate over national health care. The census occurs every decade and America cannot wait to address these issues. Failures that occur this time will affect us for at least another 10 years.