Census abroad called too tough

WASHINGTON — Congressional researchers say a Census Bureau test this year shows that counting Americans living abroad is just too tough and expensive, and Congress should drop any idea of ordering that in the 2010 Census.

The key reason Congress is considered an overseas count was that Utah claimed it was robbed of fourth U.S. House seat because the 2000 Census failed to count LDS missionaries living abroad.

Utah would have won that extra seat (instead of North Carolina) if just 80 more Utahns had been identified in the once-every-decade count. Thousands of LDS missionaries from Utah constantly serve abroad, and likely were not counted.

Unlike Utah, many of North Carolina's overseas resident were counted, because they were military personnel, said Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

"If that decision holds, it effectively closes the door on us ever being able to count our LDS missionaries . . . in the same way as military personnel," Perlich said. "I'm not aware of another state that is as affected as Utah, because of the missionary phenomenon."

Regardless of whether missionaries are counted or not, Utah will likely gain an additional congressional seat in 2010, said Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and Brigham Young University.

"It's a difficult situation," Patterson said. "This is a classic trade-off that all researchers face, the amount of data you get for the amount of money you spend on it.

To see if counting Americans abroad is feasible, Congress ordered the Census Bureau to conduct a test this year in Mexico, France and Kuwait. While final results are not yet in, the U.S. General Accounting Office, a research arm of Congress, said Tuesday that even early findings show that an overseas count is too difficult.

"Counting all American citizens overseas as part of the Census would require enormous resources, but still not yield data at the level of quality needed for purposes of congressional apportionment," Patricia A. Dalton, GAO director of strategic issues, told a House Governmental Affairs subcommittee that oversees the Census on Tuesday.

She said the Census Bureau spent $374 million on a months-long publicity campaign in those countries that produced "a steady drumbeat of advertising . . . motivating them to respond." However, the Census estimates that merely about three of every five Americans living in those countries responded.