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

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[edit] Cost

The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2004 that the cost of the census could climb to over $11 billion. In a detailed report to Congress, it called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues.[1]

Lockheed Martin won a six-year, $500 million contract to capture and standardize data for the census. The contract includes systems, facilities, and staffing for about a quarter of the projected $11.3 billion cost of the decennial census.[2] This will be the first census to use hand-held computing devices with GPS capability.[3] Unlike the 2000 census, an Internet response option will not be offered.[4]

[edit] Same-sex marriage

As of November 2008, two states (Massachusetts and Connecticut) allow marriages between partners of any gender combination to be performed by the state. In addition, New York recognizes marriages between partners of the same gender performed in other states as legal. Despite this, the 2010 U.S. Census will not count such marriages as marriages.[5] The legal basis for this is the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from recognizing marriages between two persons of the same gender.

[edit] 2012 Election

The results of the 2010 census will determine the number of seats each state receives in the 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 presidential election the same year.

[edit] Projections

Projections based on current growth rate from the Census Bureau's population estimates from 2006 to 2007 are as follows: [6]

Probable Gainers

State Seats Gained New Count
Texas 4 36
Arizona 2 10
Florida 2 27
Georgia 1 14
Nevada 1 4
North Carolina 1 14
Oregon 1 6
South Carolina 1 7
Utah 1 4

Probable Losers

State Seats Lost New Count
New York 2 27
Ohio 2 16
California 1 52
Illinois 1 18
Louisiana 1 6
Massachusetts 1 9
Michigan 1 14
Minnesota 1 7
Missouri 1 8
New Jersey 1 12
Pennsylvania 1 18
Iowa 1 4

[edit] References

[edit] External links