Cool Census Widget

The U.S. Census has published a cool widget tracking population changes state-by-state for the last 100 years. Hours of wonky fun if you're a statistics geek.

Census Result: New York Likely To Lose Two U.S. House Seats, Florida Gains Two

One of most important aspects of the U.S. Census is the resulting reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. While many of the changes will go as expected, a just-released new estimate suggests a couple of changes that were not.

A new estimate of House reapportionment gains and losses resulting from this year’s Census reveals a larger-than-expected impact on Florida and New York. According to Washington-based Election Data Services, which reviewed new Census data from a private-sector demographic firm, Florida would gain two House seats and New York would lose two seats. They would join two other states that already were projected to have multiple-seat changes.

Based on the tentative Census data, Texas is expected to gain four House seats and Ohio likely will lose two seats. According to the EDS estimate, six other states each would gain one seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Eight states would each lose one seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In addition to the Florida and New York changes, the other major switch in the projected reapportionment is that Missouri will lose a House seat instead of Minnesota.

The formal Census report will be issued in December. Reapportioning becomes effective with the 2012 elections.

PhoboQuotable - Tony Perkins

"The law should count for something when the Census Bureau counts America's population, but apparently it doesn't on President Obama's watch. The President's Commerce Department is actively encouraging people to ignore U.S. marriage law and invent new definitions for their relationships. What kind of government actively lobbies citizens to lie on their forms?

"When it comes to advancing the extreme homosexual agenda, this White House has no limits, not even the facts. The Defense of Marriage Act forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships as 'marriages.' If this video were honest, it would state, 'If you are a same-sex couple, you should mark the box that says 'unmarried partner,' even if you are legally married according to the laws of the state in which you reside.'" - Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, complaining about yesterday's release of official Census Bureau videos urging LGBT Americans to identify themselves on census forms.

VIDEO: Here's another of the seven clips, this one is from the HRC's Harry Knox, who directs their Religion & Faith program.

An Official Message From The Census

Officials from the 2010 U.S. Census staged a press conference at the NYC LGBT Center yesterday to announce the launch of a series of ad clips aimed at the LGBT community. I'll be running those clips over the next week. Here's the first, from Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

GOP Panics Over Low Census Return, Sends In Karl Rove To Help

Teabaggers like Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann have been screaming that filling out the U.S. Census will get you rounded up and micro-chipped, leading to a genuine GOP panic that a serious undercount in conservative districts will lead to a loss of legislative seats. In some red state districts fewer than 10% of the forms have been returned so far. Karl Rove to the rescue.

Michele Bachmann: The Census Will Be Used To Round Up Americans