While the Census is used determine how many representatives each state gets in Congress, it has many other uses like determining the distribution of government funds for things like schools and roads.
Right now a significant portion of North Carolina's population is deployed overseas as thousands of servicemen are currently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the current Census methods, deployed military personnel will be counted this year using military records and assigned to total state populations. Deployed soldiers would not be assigned to a specific county or community within a state.
As a result some communities in North Carolina, like Cumberland or Onslow counties, will be undercounted and therefore receive less federal funding over the next 10 years. That could lead to problems like overcrowded schools and more traffic on the roads.
Last week, Gov. Perdue sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, who oversees the Census, and to the North Carolina Congressional delegation suggesting that the Census Bureau change its methods to more accurately count deployed military populations. If accepted, this change would count deployed service members at their base of last assignment. That means a more accurate count of military communities ensuring adequate federal and state funding.