Do We Count?

2010 is a Census year. This year the U.S. Government is required to count everyone living in this country. The U.S. Constitution requires this be done to determine how many U.S. Representatives should be elected from each state. That means people must be counted where they live.

Where do we live?

Funding for a lot of programs is also dependent on the number of residents who will be affected by those programs.

Where do we reside?

We live everywhere. We live wherever our motorhome is parked.

Today is Census Day. We are in California. Should California get the benefit of our presence today? Benefits that will last for the next ten years? Even though we will leave here tomorrow?

We are legal residents of South Dakota. We spend a few nights there every year. Less than a week. Should South Dakota get the benefits of us being legal residents there?

We do vote in South Dakota. We only vote for people running for national offices, though. It doesn’t seem right for us to vote for local people when we know so little about local issues. So we only vote for those who would afect what happens wherever we happen to be parked at any one time.

So do we refuse to be counted? That’s illegal. Everyone is required to be counted.

So when the Census Enumerator knocked on our door here in California we asked for a Be Counted form that let’s us decide what address to use.

Because the address is important. It determines who gets what for the next ten years.

But the form says we have to be counted at the residence where we were actually living on April 1, 2010. You may not use a P.O. Box since that is not a residence.

Our residence moves. Frequently. Our permanent address is a business address not a residence. Our mail goes to a PMB there. That’s a Personal Mail Box. Not a P.O. Box but not really different.

So, I have the form for us to be counted but I still don’t know what to do with it? What do you recommend?

TTYL,

Linda

5 thoughts on “Do We Count?”

  1. Linda, we have the same problem and I intend to use our South Dakota address, which as far as I can determine, is now our legal address. I have the mailer from the Census Bureau but haven’t opened it yet so I haven’t seen the requirement about where we are actually living on April 01, 2010. It doesn’t matter as I want us to be counted as South Dakota residents. As you said, we vote from there and our mail is sent there. What does it matter where it ends up? South Dakota is the destination and we consider ourselves residents. Happy Census Day. 😎

  2. Lynda, I don’t have an answer for you. My problem is that I’m living on a National Wildlife Refuge in Texas right now, and no census is going to come here looking for me. I don’t know where to even get a form. My PMB is South Dakota also. 🙁

  3. Realistically, I think you’re still MN residents. It’s where you go for your medical services, it’s where Dave would probably end up should he need to leave the road. (I can’t see you leaving the road!) Yeah, your mail goes via SD, and you’re not paying MN taxes, but then you’re also not using much of MN services.

    You are most emphatically NOT a CA resident! [g]

    It’s surprisingly difficult, when one stops to think about it, to actually count every single person in the country. And this is REQUIRED to be a full count, NOT a sampling!

    I think that’s the cool thing about full-timing – You’re an American resident! Really, the census ought to have a category for that (if they don’t). Where do migrant workers live?

    (disclaimer: My census training/work did not cover transients or OLQs*. My job was strictly to make sure we canvassed all residential structures in a given area. Of which, parked campers only counted if someone was actually living in them.

    *OLQ: other living quarter, e.g. dorm buildings, campgrounds, nunneries, hospitals (but assisted-living is *not* OLQ, that is an LQ), etc.)

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