It was back in 1790—220 years ago—that President George Washington and the Founding Fathers first called for an accurate count of just how many people made up these United States. In 2010, we’re living up to our Constitutional duty again by taking part in the Census, and I am proud to serve as the Honorary Chairman of the Complete Count Committee for Carbon County.

That first census told us that the U.S. population was 3.9 million people—today there are 1.5 million people in Philadelphia alone, and more than 12 million in the Keystone State!

Census forms will start arriving in mailboxes soon, and it’s VERY important that we all fill them out properly—in fact, an accurate form will guarantee that your household won’t need to be a stop for Census workers looking to fill in the blanks later. The forms will be clearly identified as “Official Business of the United States.”

Why fill the form out? Well, federal funds for schools, senior centers, roads & bridges and emergency services are all based on a region’s population—to say nothing about making sure we’re accurately represented in Washington, D.C.

It only takes about ten minutes to complete the form, with ten short questions asking things like your name, sex, age, date of birth, race, household relationship, and if you own or rent. What the form WON’T ask for is your Social Security Number—if you get a form that looks official but asks for that number or your annual income, call the regional Census center at (215) 717-1020.

Returning it is as easy as popping it into your mailbox—the postage is pre-paid.

You can fill out and return the form with absolute confidence, too. Your information, by law, is not shared with anyone, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency or other government agencies. All Census Bureau employees take an oath of nondisclosure and are sworn to protect the confidentiality of the data.

If you’d like to learn more, visit the Census online at www.census.gov.

As usual, I’d like to close by reminding you that my offices in Lansford, Lehighton and Albrightsville are there to help make state government work harder for you. We can help with everything from driver’s license renewals to PACE prescription forms to just about any issue that impacts you and your family.

Keith McCall