Census 2010 for Radcliff, KY

Seems our town of Radcliff, Kentucky is disgruntled with the Census results. Our population is lower than anticipated. Hmmm, could it be from all the people who refused to return their forms, refused to answer their doors and the Census enumerator had to rely on information obtained from a neighbor on the THIRD visit? Then after the enumerator went those 3 times, quality assurance personnel attempted to confirm these results sometimes 3 additional times without luck and once again had to rely on a neighbor for the information. These non-responding folks cost the government a chunk of change that didn't need to be spent and have deprived their town from funding and now blame is being placed on the Census Bureau. The census is important requirement placed on Americans. Many funds given by the federal government depend on population levels so if everyone isn't counted, then the amount of funding is at a lower level or possibly in some cases non-existent. 

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Consensus of The News Enterprise editorial board. "Radcliff justified in census challenge." The News Enterprise, March 31, 2011: A6.

The census has been guided by authorizing legislation since 1790. Through the mid-nineteenth century, this legislation was very detailed: it listed questions to be asked and gave detailed instructions to the enumerators. Although the Secretary of State was the nominal national head of the early censuses, almost all of the work for the count was done on the state and local level by federal marshals. The lack of national leadership meant that census acts had to be very specific; it was the only way the federal government could assure that the marshals would return standardized information.

As census operations became more centralized and federalized in the latter part of the nineteenth century, legislation relating to the census became less detailed. Instead, it directed broad categories of questions to be asked, and left the actual design of census questionnaires up to the superintendent of the census.

The modern Census Bureau has been shaped by two pieces of twentieth century legislation: the 1902 legislation that made the Census Office a permanent agency and the 1954 legislation that combined the existing laws governing the Census Bureau's statistical programs and codified them in Title 13. Title 13 is the section of U.S. Code that governs Census Bureau activities to this day.

History. http://www.census.gov/history/www/reference/legislation/ (accessed April 01, 2011).