Have you filled out your “2010 Congressional District Census” yet?

It’s arriving this week in mailboxes in Minnesota, New York and Washington state. At first glance, it might appear to be related to the upcoming once-a-decade count of every man, woman and child in the United States.

It’s not. It’s a Republican fundraiser and opinion poll.

And it has some local Democrats crying foul. They’re calling for a federal investigation.

“This is as egregious as it gets,” said Luz Maria Frias, director of St. Paul’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity and the city’s point person for raising awareness of the federal 2010 U.S. census.

“Between now and April 1, there will be an inundation of census information, and the timing of this is really suspect. It smells.”

Frias, an appointee in a process controlled by Democrats, said she worries the mailing will confuse or even frighten people, especially immigrants and less-educated residents. She fears it will lead to fewer people filling out the real census forms.

The decennial enumeration can carry massive political consequences, and partisan overtones have surrounded the effort for months.

The Republican National Committee defended the mailing. “The document clearly indicates that it is an RNC mailer,” spokesman LeRoy Coleman said in a statement. “The purpose of this document is to gather Republican opinion from across the country and raise a little money.”

Inside the envelope, which is labeled “DO NOT DESTROY — OFFICIAL DOCUMENT,” beneath “2010 Congressional District Census” and above the relevant congressional district and alphanumeric “Census Tracking Code” (which appears to be meaningless), appears the smaller-type phrase: “Commissioned by the Republican Party.”

The four-page form asks 36 political questions, followed by “Section V,” which asks for a donation to the Republican National Committee.

For its part, the U.S. Census Bureau is staying neutral on the matter, and it’s unclear if it will take any formal action.

“We kind of wish it hadn’t come out,” said Dennis Johnson, director of the regional census office that covers Minnesota. “But we don’t think there will be a lot of confusion because we have a big informational campaign to make people aware of the official census.”

Most Minnesotans will receive their U.S. census questionnaires in mid-March, perhaps earlier in isolated rural areas, with a request to mail them in by April.

Local awareness campaigns have included fortune cookies with paper slips that urge people to fill out their confidential forms. The Census Bureau also will have a presence this weekend at the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

When asked whether the agency might issue some sort of formal objection to the GOP mailer, Johnson replied, “I can’t speak to that. I do know that at the top level, our most senior officials, including director (Robert) Groves, are looking at (the mailer).”

During the summer, the Better Business Bureau issued an alert about a similar “2009 Congressional District Survey,” also issued by the RNC. The organization called the mailing “misleading.”

Billions of federal dollars are at stake in the census, and in Minnesota, participation could determine whether the state loses one of its eight congressional seats. Federal officials use the census to determine where federal funding goes, and lawmakers use it to redraw state and federal legislative districts.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican, this year essentially called for a boycott of the constitutionally mandated census because it doesn’t require respondents to take an oath that they’re here legally.

But it could be the 6th District Republican’s seat that’s in play if the state loses a seat and Democrats control the redistricting process.

Nationwide, leaders of urban areas, who are often Democrats, have contended that lower census response rates among minorities, immigrants and the poor have led to less money and representation. Some Republicans have accused Democrats of trying to game the system by pushing for population estimates, instead of actual headcounts.

“It shouldn’t be partisan,” said St. Paul City Council President Kathy Lantry, a Democrat. “The census should be ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’ ”

Lantry sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Postal Service, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones and census director Groves calling for an investigation for “possible mail fraud” and “impersonating a federal agency.”

Lantry’s husband, also a Democrat, received the mailer this week. She said she initially thought it was “the census” and got giddy.

“Call me weird, but I got excited,” she said. “I got out a pen and got ready to fill it out, and then I saw the first question and was like, What?!”

ONLINE

Is the GOP mailing misleading? See it for yourself at TwinCities.com.