EXPERTS WARN CENSUS MAY UNDERCOUNT NYC RESIDENTS.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: -- Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Head counters in the next census will likely overlook tens of thousands of New Yorkers if statistical sampling is not allowed, according to experts who say the possible undercount could cost the city and state millions of dollars.

``The strict census, the enumeration without sampling, tends to undercount minorities and it also misses people in general,'' Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University, said Tuesday. ``You wind up estimating that certain areas, such as New York City, have fewer people than they really have.''

For a city like New …