The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. The Importance of the Census
3. Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
4. Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
   1. Overview of the census plan
   2. What you need to know
   3. How you can help
5. Additional Information
   1. Frequently asked questions
   2. Facts and figures
   3. Census history

Technological Challenges

An update in technology was among the major changes that the Census Bureau tried to implement for the 2010 census. In 2006, the Bureau contracted with Harris Corporation to develop more than 525,000 hand-held computers that census workers would use during the nonresponse followup operations. The use of these devices would have replaced the original paper-based system, would have been considerably cheaper, and would have enabled workers to relay the information to headquarters much faster. In 2008, however, the Census Bureau dropped the idea of using these devices, choosing instead to conduct paper-based nonresponse followup - a decision that may have serious consequences for hard-to-count populations, which tend to have higher nonresponse rates.

Next Section: The questionnaire