The Iowa Complete Count Committee, led by Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, expressed concern for Iowans who lost their homes during the derecho storms and whether or not that will affect Iowa’s numbers in the census.
The U.S. Census Bureau Partnership Coordinator Sam Fettig said he is confident the census will still be accurately completed.
“But we do still have time we believe to get that complete count, to get to everyone. And just to be clear, so those who are in shelters, temporarily displaced, should still be counted at their place of usual residence," Fettig said.
According to Fettig, the bureau has a plan to make sure those who lost their homes are still counted. Linn County, one of the hardest hit by derecho, has a 72.9 percent response rate.
“We’ll work with the local disaster response teams, charities, nonprofits that are working with those displaced people to make sure we get them counted and in the right place," Fettig said.
Iowa right now ranks as No. 6 for self-response for the 2020 Census. Lt. Gov. Gregg said without football, the Big Ten will compete over census responses. Fighting in the top ten slots for census responses are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana.
