The next decennial census is now less than 16 months away and preparations are well underway, but questions still linger whether Congress is providing enough funding for the 2010 Census.  Obama's transition team reportedly has given the 2010 Census a high priority, but the New York Times editorial board and others have expressed concern about whether the incoming Obama Administration will move swiftly enough to appoint a Census Bureau director. 

Given the vital importance of the decennial census, in the next few weeks we will be taking a look at what's at stake. While there are many reasons while a full and accurate census is important to the country, reapportionment is the one that strikes closest to home for many Members of Congress.  The data collected by the 2010 Census will be used to adjust the number of House seats that each state is entitled to.  Last month, Election Data Services released a report indicating that population shifts last year could shift more seats between four states than what was reported by EDS in 2007.  EDS reported that:

The states of Michigan and New Jersey have lost or not gained as much population as earlier in the decade, and now have lost a congressional seat in the new study. The two seats shift to Missouri (to eliminate their loss reported last year) and Texas (which now would be adding three seats to their delegation). Overall, the new 2008 estimates show that eight congressional seats in 14 states have already changed at this point in the decade, if a new apportionment was made with the updated numbers. Five states-Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Utah-would each gain a seat and Texas would gain three seats if the U.S. House of Representatives were reapportioned with census population estimates for July 1, 2008, according to Election Data Services' analysis. Eight states would lose seats-Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Let's hope that Members of Congress from these states and others are paying attention:  The Census is coming.