Return your 2010 Census questionnaire

If you're like me, you received your 2010 Census questionnaire in the mail recently.

On behalf of Elizabethtown Borough, I encourage you to fill out the form and return it right away. The government uses the information gleaned -- which is the age of everyone and the number of people in a household -- to determine representation in Congress. It also uses the information to determine how to distribute federal money.

I have heard some people say that we don't have to give this information to the government, which really floors me. If they're scared that the government is going to use the information for nefarious purposes, everything I have read and heard says the information remains confidential. Here are some common questions about privacy with the census and some additional information about that.

It particularly irks me that some people would encourage others not to return their forms because it undermines one of the basic tenets of our democracy: representation in Congress. Already, state officials are projecting that Pennsylvania will lose a seat in the U.S. House after the census statistics are compiled. That means one less person on Capitol Hill fighting for the Commonwealth and airing our concerns in Washington, D.C.

So if you haven't yet returned your form, please take 10 minutes to fill out the 10 questions and put it in the mail. It's good for our country, our Commonwealth and the Elizabethtown community.