APRIL 2, 2010 – Filling out the Census isn’t a sin. It isn’t a Democratic or Republican thing. It’s just the law, something required in the U.S. Constitution by the founders of the country to ensure equal representation.

But because even a piece of toast can become partisanized these days, some from the left and others from the right are trying to get Americans to boycott the Census or fill out only a part of it.

But if South Carolinians don’t do a better job in filling out the Census, the state could suffer. It’s that plain and simple.

The Census, explains Budget and Control Board Research Director Bobby Bowers, is all about R&R – not rest and relaxation, but about revenue and representation.

On the revenue side, many federal programs rely on Census-based formulas to distribute tax dollars for everything from money for schools and health care to highway construction and vocational rehabilitation.

It is not an insignificant amount. If South Carolina’s people are undercounted – as about 48,335 people were projected to have been missed in 2000 – then the state will not receive $580 million to $1 billion over the next 10 years, said Bowers, the legislative-appointed state liaison with the Census Bureau. If we have the 49^th lowest participation rate in the country, as we did in 2000, federal tax money already paid by South Carolinians will just go somewhere else.

“That’s a lot of money,” Bowers said. “Think of what this state could do with an extra billion dollars these days. It’s critical for this state, particularly with the downturn in the economy, to be able to get as much from the federal government that is going to be distributed anyway.”

And we don’t want to miss out on that money due to some people failing to act because of something they hear from a misinformed or misleading talking head with an agenda who is on TV spreading calumny.

Filling out the Census also could mean more representation in Congress. It’s been widely reported that if South Carolinians are more accurately counted, there’s a chance the state will get a seventh congressional district.

Between 2000 and 2009, South Carolina was the nation’s 10^th fastest growing state. By July 2009, the state had about 4.6 million people, according to Census estimates. If this year’s Census finds around 4.8 million people here, we could be on the borderline to get another district, based on Statehouse Report projections.

This year, the Census made a special effort to educate South Carolinians about the importance of filling out the Census form. There have been ads, town meetings and more.

Former Rock Hill newspaper editor Terry Plumb, who has been working for the Census to spread the word, explained that it costs just 42 cents for someone to return the Census in the mail. But if the Census Bureau has to send an employee to someone’s home—and they would try up to six times to try to find them to answer the form’s 10 questions – then the average cost rises to $57 for a completed form. (The reason is the time, training and background checks for Census employees.)

In the coming months, as many as 12,800 part-time Census specialists may be hired to ensure that the state has an accurate a count as possible.

Do your part today by filling out the form. By law, the information remains confidential. Completing the Census could save money now – and reap bigger rewards for the state in many ways over the next 10 years.

Andy Brack is publisher of Statehouse Report, where this column first appeared.  You can reach him at brack@statehousereport.com.