Efforts to automate a part of the 2010 census aren't on track, leaving the Census Bureau in a position it didn't count on.

"I cannot overemphasize the seriousness of this problem," U.S. Census Bureau Director Steve Murdock told U.S. senators at a hearing this month.

For a growing state such as Georgia, ranked ninth in population in the country, the 2010 census is important.

It could show the state deserves another seat in the House of Representatives based on increased population, University of Georgia demographer Doug Bachtel said.

Census data are used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, draw congressional districts and allocate billions of federal dollars.

The figures are also used to determine the number of votes a state has in the Electoral College, which ultimately elects the president of the United States.

"If it's not done right, we stand to lose," Bachtel said.

The 2010 census is scheduled for April 1, 2010, at a cost of $11.5 billion. It is an attempt to count every person in the United States.

But there are problems that center around an attempt to automate the process of finding addresses and following up in person with those who didn't return the census form that was mailed.

The Census Bureau awarded a $595 million contract two years ago to Harris Corp., based in Melbourne, Fla., to perform this work and other aspects of the 2010 census.

Harris Corp. is creating a small hand-held computer that looks something like the device used by a FedEx delivery person.

The device is supposed to automate the process of identifying and correcting addresses for all known residences in the United States, collect global positioning coordinates to update the Census Bureau's maps and transmit the information collected during in-person interviews in households.

An expected 500,000 census workers are expected to use the hand-held devices to conduct the census. They are supposed to take the place of paper forms.

In a test run last year, however, the devices had a number of performance problems including "slow and inconsistent data processing," says a report by the Government Accountability Office.

A spokesman for Harris Corp. said the company recognizes that the census "has to be done right."

"Harris is absolutely committed to supporting the Census Bureau in having the most secure, accurate automated census in the nation's history," spokesman Marc Raimondi said.

The GAO report warned the 2010 census is in serious trouble and labeled it a "high risk" area of government.

The Harris contract has increased to $647 million, the GAO report says. The cost of the 2010 census could increase additionally by anywhere from $600 million to $2 billion, the GAO report says.

The program has increased in price and suffered schedule delays because the Census Bureau changed the requirements for what it wanted the system to do, the GAO report says.

Because of the changes, the bureau decided to delay certain deadlines. That meant the dress rehearsal might not have found all of the faults, according to the GAO.

Now a task force is considering four options for how to proceed, ranging from going forward with the present plan, to returning to paper forms for the majority of the work.