President Barack Obama named a University of Michigan professor, Bob Groves, to head up the Census Bureau on Thursday. The Republicans were not happy 
with the pick, as about 20 years ago, Groves advocated statistical sampling as a means of correcting a historically large undercount in the 1990 Census. The Republican party has traditionally been against sampling, as it typically favors minorities, who tend to lean toward the Democratic party. Department of Commerce secretary Gary Locke says that sampling will not be used, so that’s probably the way it will be. From a genealogical standpoint, I think Locke’s opinion on the subject is best. Gary Locke was a Democratic Governor of Washington State, who was rather popular with the citizens of all political stripes.
This week, the Bureau began to verify and update over 145 million addresses as it prepares for the 2010 census. In addition, over 140,000 Census workers are will be going house-to-house as needed.
Read all about the appointment of Bob Graves in the April 3, 2009 edition of HispanicBusiness.com.
