Ever since Barack Obama won the presidency, right-wing paranoia about the Census has run rampant. But what few people realize is that Census officials themselves are equally paranoid about protecting the privacy of the information we provide. Protection begins with a 72-year seal on personal information in our Census responses:

Doris Turner, the partnership specialist for the Census Bureau serving several counties including Coweta, emphasized the confidential nature of Census form data in a recent meeting with the Coweta County Complete County[sic] Committee.

"It's sealed for 72 years," she said of the information. Census employees take an oath "that they will not divulge anybody's information," Turner said. The nondisclosure oath is for life.

The penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of up to $250,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

In other words, it won’t be until 2082 that historians or genealogists will be able to use Census data, for instance, to find out if I owned or rented my home this year.

In the mean time, all data released by the Census Bureau has had personally identifiable information (e.g. phone numbers, names, etc.) struck from it. But the Bureau doesn’t stop there -- it also goes to great lengths to make sure no one can reverse-engineer a way to identify anyone through the data they release. Even if it means altering entire data sets just to protect one person:

Suppose there is only one 65-year-old married woman attending college in North Dakota, and that her response was released by the Census Bureau. Then researchers would know everything else she told the agency, including, perhaps, her income and her parents' birthplace.

To protect the privacy of such unusual individuals and households, the government manipulates data, using several techniques that were described in a 2005 Census Bureau paper. Numbers are rounded, so incomes of $80,600 and $81,400 would both be recorded as $81,000. What statisticians refer to as "noise" is added to some ages—a year or two older or younger, perhaps.

Also, outlier values are averaged together, and that average is assigned to every one of those outliers. For instance, the top half-percent of earners would each be assigned the average income of that wealthy subgroup, so that, say, Warren Buffett's census questionnaire can't be identified. And people with especially unique characteristics might be moved across the country, in a kind of statistical witness protection program, so that entry for the North Dakotan woman might be changed to show her living in Alabama.

This additional “noise” is a source of constant irritation for some economists, sociologists, and other researchers using Census data in their research, but it shows just how far the Census Bureau goes protects the information it collects.

So the next time a Republican (like the commenters on the two articles cited above) tells you he’s too scared to fill out his Census form… tell him to take off the tin-foil hat.

Today is the first day that Census questionnaires begin arriving in mailboxes around the country. And since every uncounted individual costs his or her local government nearly $1,400 in lost federal funding, filling out that form is one of the simplest ways to help your community.

Additionally, for every 1 percent of American households that fill out and return their Census questionnaires by mail, taxpayers save nearly $85 million. With so much at stake in the process, top-level Census officials are pulling out all the stops to encourage Census participation, including (for the first time) a daily online report of participation rates around the country:

It also is hoping to motivate cities, counties and local communities to get involved. In 2000, both dense urban cities and sprawling rural areas -- from Alabama and California to Michigan and New York -- faced problems with an undercount, particularly in areas with larger shares of lower-income residents.

Beginning next week, the Census Bureau will publish daily real-time data on 2010 mail-back participation rates for the U.S. broken down by state, county, city and zip code. Ron Loveridge, president of the National League of Cities and the mayor of Riverside, Calif., is challenging mayors to see who can get the highest participation rate.

These data will give us the first clues about which states will struggle to earn their fair share of congressional representation and federal funding.

Last month, we alerted readers to a Republican-sponsored survey claiming to be an official Census questionnaire. Census officials worry the fake mailers will reduce participation in the actual Census, but now Republican officials have admitted a much more insidious goal: defrauding potential donors:

"Of course, duping people is the point. ... That's one of the reasons why it works so well,” said one Republican operative familiar with the program, who said it’s among the RNC’s most lucrative fundraising initiatives. “They will likely mail millions this year [with] incredible targeting.”

Any voter needs to remember two things if they receive one of these fake “Census” forms from the Republican Party:

1. Your official U.S. Census questionnaire will NEVER ask you to send money, pin numbers, or credit card information with your completed survey.

2. If the Republican-sponsored survey “duped” you (their word) into thinking you had to pay to be counted in the U.S. Census, and you sent a donation because of it, you have been defrauded. Contact the Republican Party immediately to demand a refund.

For more tips on avoiding scams and other fraudulent Census questionnaires, please visit this U.S. Census Bureau fact sheet.

The Republican Party has begun targeting three strongly Democratic states with fake letters purporting to be official Census documents. The letters seem designed to create confusion, which could cost Democrats congressional seats and electoral votes in all three states:

It's arriving this week in mailboxes in Minnesota, New York and Washington state. At first glance, it might appear to be related to the upcoming once-a-decade count of every man, woman and child in the United States.

It's not. It's a Republican fundraiser and opinion poll.

And it has some local Democrats crying foul. They're calling for a federal investigation.

"This is as egregious as it gets," said Luz Maria Frias, director of St. Paul's Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity and the city's point person for raising awareness of the federal 2010 U.S. census.

The letters are likely to heighten confusion and even suspicion when residents receive legitimate Census questionnaires later this year. This, in turn, could decrease overall Census participation in these three states, all of which could be considered “on the bubble” to gain or lose additional congressional seats after reapportionment.

Local officials in these states are right to demand an investigation. Even if the Republican scheme fails to reduce these states’ congressional clout and electoral votes, any reduction in Census participation could cost local taxpayers millions of dollars in federal money.

Though Census Day is nearly two months away, in Alaska, the count has already started. On Monday, World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, an 88-year old resident of Noorvik, became the first citizen registered in the 2010 Census.

While the rest of the country must wait until April 1, the complexities involved with conducting a census in Alaska force officials to begin with the state:

The largest state in the union stretches across 586,000 square miles. That's more than twice the size of Texas, the biggest state in the Lower 48. Yet Alaska has one of the nation's smallest populations at less than 700,000.

More than 260,000 live in Anchorage, the state's largest city. About 13% of residents are American Indian and Alaska Native, and almost half of Alaskans live in rural areas. Many live in villages so remote they are not connected to roads and receive mail through a post office box.

Mailing the Census forms to these far-off places won't work because the Census must count people where they live, not where they pick up their mail. If the questionnaires can't be delivered to a street address, Census takers bring the forms in person.

In Noorvik, the Census is a cause for celebration, and the count was ushered in with traditional dancing by local residents.

After Census officials have determined which states gained and lost population over the course of the last decade, congressional districts will be reallocated. States which grew in large numbers will add seats, while states which shrunk will lose them.

For some time, demographers have predicted that Texas will gain seats. The question now is how many.

Some experts -- like William Frey from the Brookings Institution -- now believe that refugees from Hurricane Katrina could tip the balance for the state:

Demographers predict Texas will add at least three new districts, and the evacuees who stayed after the 2005 storm – experts estimate between 50,000 and 100,000 did so – could provide the margin for a fourth seat.

That news makes this set of legislative races in Texas even more important. Republicans hold a slim one-seat majority in the House of Representatives, but if they retain control of the legislature, they'll have a significant advantage when it comes time to draw the new lines for the state's Congressional districts.

Democrats have an all too fresh reminder of how Republicans will approach redistricting if they control every lever of power. In 2003, the GOP -- led by Tom Delay -- forced through a controversial mid-decade plan that reduced Democratic Congressional seats in the state from 15 to 11.

We can't let them do that again. After this election, we must have a seat at the table.

Coordination is one of the biggest keys to a complete Census count. That’s why a new coalition between advocates for African-Americans and first generation immigrants -- two of the most chronically-undercounted minority groups -- might pay dividends:

Civil rights organizations and advocates for the growing Caribbean and African immigrant population are setting aside differences and have formed the Unity Diaspora Coalition to push all blacks to fill out the federal forms. They vow to keep the coalition alive well beyond this year's Census — through the midterm elections, redistricting battles and all the way to the 2020 Census.

"We need the numbers," says Benjamin Afrifa, chairman and CEO of the African Federation, a group he founded in 2005. "The 2010 Census is an opportunity for us to go out there, mobilize the community. … We realize that we cannot do this in isolation." (…)

The coalition is spreading the Census message from Haitian festivals in New York and Miami and Nigerian community events in Houston to black churches in rural Mississippi and NAACP chapter meetings in Chicago.

By making sure everyone pulls in the same direction when it comes to the Census, the coalition hopes to eliminate confusion about how to respond to Census questionnaires and raise awareness of the importance of the process for minority communities.

Political representation after redistricting and $400 billion in federal funding are at stake in the 2010 Census, money that supports everything from schools to local health clinics.

With so many northern states “on the bubble” for losing or gaining congressional seats, local officials are going after so-called “snow birds” to make sure the Census doesn’t skip over them while they’re vacationing further south.

It may seem like a small universe of people, but it could make a huge difference for states like Michigan and Minnesota:

Minnesota's latest population estimate from the State Demographic Center, released in July, was 5.3 million. It needs to count about 2,000 to 3,000 more people to ensure that Minnesota maintains eight congressional seats, Ronningen said. The state estimates it will lose $1,300 for every person it misses, she said.

In Michigan, where unemployment is high and population is slipping, officials have launched a campaign to educate snowbirds on filling out the forms to reflect where they live most of the time. Lt. Gov. John Cherry, who is heading Michigan's Census count effort, says an estimated 200,000 snowbirds were missed in 2000, contributing to the loss of a congressional seat and about $2 billion in federal funds over the decade.

Overall, the number of winter vacationers is actually quite large. Two of the most popular winter destinations, Florida and Arizona, see their populations rise by about 800,000 and 300,000 people during the season. And many of those temporary residents will receive Census forms at both of their residences:

Because Census forms are sent to every residence in the country — about 130 million are to go out in 2010 — chances are the winter travelers will get one in their home state and one at their winter homes.

The problem lies in the fact that Census forms are not forwarded by the post office because they are based on residence, not the person, said Kim Hunter, a Census Bureau media specialist in Detroit.

So Rosanne and William Bowker, both 65, of Royal Oak, Mich., will see only the Census form they get at the Fort Myers, Fla., home, where they've spent about four months every winter for the past four years.

According to the Census Bureau, the correct procedure for snowbirds is to mark “0” as the number of people living in their vacation home on the Census questionnaire they receive there. When they return home later, they should also fill out the form they receive at their primary residence, listing everyone who spends more than half the year living there.

Even though “Census Day” is officially April 1st, the U.S. Census Bureau is already cranking up a $300 million dollar campaign to publicize the Census and encourage all U.S. residents to turn in their Census forms.

Though the $300 million figure may seem high, every penny of outreach will be worth it. The Census figures will eventually be used to distribute $400 billion in federal tax revenue to states and localities, and an effective early outreach campaign can shave hundreds of millions of dollars off the cost of conducting the census:

In 2000, about 67 percent of households mailed back their forms, ending a three decade decline in the response rate. Follow-up visits are expensive. For every percentage point decrease in the response rate, the Census Bureau says it costs an additional $85 million to find and count those people.

Ultimately, the Census Bureau’s efforts will be supplemented by state and local officials, who depend on a complete count for their share of tax revenue and fair representation after redistricting.

One of the most interesting states for 2010 redistricting will be Louisiana. The state is likely to lose a congressional seat, and Democrats fighting to maintain their state legislative majorities against a strong Republican trend will also have to navigate dramatic population changes caused by Hurricane Katrina.

All this has brought national attention to Louisiana’s redistricting challenge, and the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College is rolling out a district-by-district guide to Louisiana redistricting, starting with an overview of which parties control which levers of power:

Democrats are in clear control of the Senate with 23 seats compared to the Republicans’ 16 seats. The situation in the House is not as clear because Democrats control 52 seats, Republicans control 50, and there are 3 Independents (one of the Independents, Michael Jackson, switched from being a Democrat in 2008). The House leadership is split between the parties. For example, the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee are Republicans while the Speaker Pro Tempore and the Chairman of the Education Committee are Democrats. The close margin in the House and the split partisanship in the leadership could create compromise or could more likely encourage a very partisan situation as both parties fight to get enough votes to pass their plan. Democrats are in a position of power as they control the Senate, but the Republicans will also have a significant say because of the close margins in the House and because the Republican Governor can veto any plan.

The challenge, then, will be for Democrats to produce a redistricting plan that 1. Unifies the House caucus by sufficiently navigating regional and other divisions, 2. Wins the backing of either the Republican Governor or a significant number of Republican legislators, 3. Adheres to Voting Rights Act requirements, and 4. Produces enough Democratic-leaning districts to keep control of the legislature and as many competitive congressional districts as possible. Some (or all) of these requirements already conflict, but the situation is aggravated by Katrina, which decimated the population of New Orleans and some of the gulf-coast parishes while causing rapid growth in Baton Rouge and the New Orleans suburbs.

The Republicans’ challenge is much simpler: create new legislative targets for Republican takeover and make all the state’s congressional districts as inhospitable as possible for Democrats (excepting, of course, a majority African-American district required by the Voting Rights Act). Governor Jindal’s veto will be the key source of leverage for the Republicans, but the state Constitution gives Democrats a key safety valve if Jindal and the Republicans overplay their hand:

(B) Reapportionment by Supreme Court. If the legislature fails to reapportion as required in Paragraph (A), the supreme court, upon petition of any elector, shall reapportion the representation in each house as provided in Paragraph (A).

Louisiana Supreme Court justices are chosen by partisan elections, and Democrats currently hold 4 of the 7 seats (including the Chief Justice).

The Rose Institute's second installment, focusing on New Orleans-area congressional districts, is also now available.