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| Economy |
| Census 2010 Plagued By Technical Difficulties |
| 2010-03-19 |
| Conducting a national head count isn't easy or cheap. It gets even more complicated -- and expensive -- when efforts to modernize the decennial census fall short. The idea for 2010 was that half a million census workers, for the first time, would use handheld computers to verify addresses, follow up with people who didn't return their questionnaires and perform other tasks. "It would enable them to enter answers from the household as they stood there, and to send that information either immediately or overnight back directly to the processing center," said Louis Kincannon, former director of the U.S. Census Bureau. But certain "delete" operations malfunctioned, causing some major glitches. And after the successful completion of the address verification phase, the devices were phased out for any further use. The total cost, meanwhile, grew from an original $600 million computer contract to up to $3 billion. Add to that the $14.7 billion bill that taxpayers are already footing for the 10 years of census counting -- a price tag that supports 500 local offices and a peak staff of 1.4 million workers. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 Of course Rush Limbaugh is filling out his race as Other: American, but otherwise completing the form. That is a good and probably legal protest. It will be interesting to see how many people do that. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2010-03-19 22:26 |
| #13 "Can one legally, without penalty only fill out the census form as Boortz did?" According to the forms/instructions there's a minimum $100 fine and possible jailtime for not answering all questions honestly. Boortz wants to be made an example of - a very loud public example. Not to mention he's a lawyer by training. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2010-03-19 15:44 |
| #12 "...geneaology is hard enough as it is!!" Indeed. My wife ran into a muddle when she traced one line to a John and Mary Smith in 19th century PA. She still hasn't untangled that one. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2010-03-19 15:40 |
| #11 HohnQC - geneaology is hard enough as it is!! |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-19 15:05 |
| #10 What if everyone in this country legally changes their name to Smith? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-03-19 14:27 |
| #9 I hear Neal Boortz, talk show guy out of Atlanta, say today that he sent his census form in and he only filled out the first two questions and question #10 regarding the number of people living at that address on April 1, 2010. Question #10 asks whether you sometimes stay somewhere else. He skipped the questions about telephone number, name, sex, whether or not you are hispanic, and race. Question #8 is interesting in that it specifically asks if you are of Hispanic origin. I assume this is a ploy to try to gain information about potential voters so they can be targeted for receiving campaign literature and promises. I thought anyone could buy this information despite the assurances of confidentiality. Can one legally, without penalty only fill out the census form as Boortz did? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-03-19 14:26 |
| #8 $600 million to $3 billion! That's quite a bonus! |
| Posted by: Jith Ghibelline8809 2010-03-19 12:53 |
| #7 There's not "an app for that" - why not? Oh, it's a gov't job, not free market. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-19 11:45 |
| #6 You need a Handheld calculator with super dooper specially designed software to verify an address? How about a notebook, a pen and a cell phone to call the office. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-03-19 09:44 |
| #5 Are these are the same people who wish to bring us nationalized health care? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-03-19 06:59 |
| #4 Too many white people? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-03-19 04:05 |
| #3 technical difficulties? Let's remember trhat by January 31th, 2009, Obama had already taken control of the Census Bureau and subcontracted the Cebsus to Acorn. This is the "tecnical difficulty." |
| Posted by: JFM 2010-03-19 02:38 |
| #2 WHOA - see also MARIANAS VARIETY [MVGUAM.com] > CENSUS HITS A SNAG [2010 Guam Census]. Year 2010 + "Left Field" striketh again. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-03-19 01:26 |
| #1 Lockheed Martin had the computer contract. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-03-19 00:25 |