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Politics

Counting on the Census

Counting on the Census
The Census Bureau is gearing up for the big count in 2010. But many questions are being raised, from the high cost (estimated $15 billion) to the accuracy of the count to political partisan motivations. The outcome of the census will be watched closely by states like California, with a high number of minorities and a problem with out migration.

Maureen Cavanaugh: Once every ten years the United States Census Bureau tries to get an accurate count of all the people living in the country. Usually the census is not a very controversial topic, but it certainly is this time around.

Critics are up-in-arms about everything from the proposed cost of the 2010 census to how the census bureau is going to conduct the count. Meanwhile supporters are praising the census as an employment opportunity for census workers and are advocating a new method of counting called statistical sampling.

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Guest

Gloria Penner, political correspondent and host of Editors Roundtable on KPBS.