Be Counted! It's National Census Day

Today is National Census Day, the last day to mail in your census form. There are several incentives for doing this:

- $400 billion in federal monies are allocated based on census data. The census also determines the numbers of seats your state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives.

- Census workers will be coming to your door and knocking after April 15 if you don't get the form in. Do you really want more people knocking on your door in addition to the reval inspector, religious proselytizers and environmental guardians?

- You can help Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca win a bet with South Orange Village President Doug Newman. As of 4 p.m. on March 31, Maplewood was leading 51% to 49% (as per the U.S. Census website). DeLuca tells us that he and Newman will probably wait until April 15 to declare a winner in order to make sure that as many forms as possible are counted.

So there you have it: Three compelling reasons to fill out your census form and be counted!