Residents in the City of Dubuque lead the nation in returning their Census forms. Census officials say 70 percent of Dubuque residents have sent in their forms.
Nearly 60 percent of all Iowa households have mailed in their Census forms. Only three other states — South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska — have higher return rates. Sydnee Chattin-Reynolds, a Census official for the Kansas City region, says the nation’s overall return rate so far is 54 percent.
“We’re very pleased with what the return rates are so far,” Chattin-Reynolds says. “And we’re going to keep the energy going.”
Some Latinos in Iowa, though, warn immigration raids in Postville and Marshalltown are prompting some Hispanic residents in Iowa to toss the Census forms. Domaris Mulcahey attended a Census event in Cedar Rapids this week. “I think they are afraid to fill the Census because of that, because maybe they think immigration is going to take them again or send them home,” she said. “Maybe they are afraid to fill that out.”
Census workers fanned out this past week to try to count homeless Iowans and tallies were taken at the state’s prisons to count the number of inmates, too. In May, Census workers will walk through residential areas, visiting households that have not returned a Census form.