Launching the first major operation of the 2010 census, workers will begin canvassing the Snoqualmie Valley on Friday, April 20.

Through June, workers with the U.S. Census Bureau may knock on doors to verify or update an address, and may also ask if there are any other living quarters on the premises.

They will not ask for personal information, such as bank or social security numbers.

“They will not ask anything about who is living there in this first phase,” said Deni Luna, a census spokesperson. “They are simply verifying addresses.”

Census forms will be mailed to addresses, not people, beginning next march.

Luna said census workers take a lifetime oath to protect information, and cannot share it with anyone — law enforcement, immigration officials, even the U.S. president.

Canvassing staff will use hand-held computers and wear red, white and blue badges.

The countdown to the census is officially one year out on April 1.

“The goal of the census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place,” said Ralph Lee, Seattle regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau.