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Lake County officials hope to boost their area鈥檚 U.S. Census response rate as the decennial count enters its final month.

So far, 77 percent of the county鈥檚 households have filled out the census online, by phone or by mail. That self-response rate puts Lake County in sixth place in Ohio. Still, officials want to do better.

鈥淐ompared to the rest of the state, we鈥檙e extremely pleased with the numbers we鈥檙e seeing,鈥� County Commissioner John Hamercheck told ideastream. 鈥淏ut considering our plans before this whole COVID situation, it鈥檚 frustrating. Our goal was to be high 80s, low 90s.鈥�

As census enumerators knock on doors, the county is investing in Laketran bus ads, radio spots and mailers, county project coordinator Donna Tyson said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not cheap to do this, but we find that we have a couple of communities out here that basically only get their mail through a P.O. box, and the census doesn鈥檛 deliver to P.O. boxes,鈥� she said.

The advertising will be in English and Spanish as much as possible, part of an effort to reach Lake County鈥檚 many Latino residents, Tyson said.

Painesville, the county seat, has the lowest self-response rate at 54 percent. Local census advocates are focusing their final push there, in Fairport Harbor and in Wickliffe, planning and community development director David Radachy said.

If 23 percent of households remain uncounted, he said, the census would miss thousands of people in Lake County.

鈥淎bout 54,000 people would go uncounted in Lake County, and that鈥檚 the size of Mentor-on-the-Lake and Mentor combined,鈥� Radachy said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a huge hole in Lake County.鈥�

Medina County leads the state with a self-response rate of almost 82 percent. Geauga County, at nearly 79 percent, is the third highest self-responder in Ohio. Cuyahoga County鈥檚 self-response rate, about 66 percent, places it 61st out of 88 counties, with Cleveland ranking as one of the lowest responding metropolitan areas in the country.

Last month, Northeast Ohio nonprofits urged the U.S. Census Bureau to reverse a decision to end the count Sept. 30 rather than Oct. 31.

The 2010 Census counted about 230,000 people in Lake County. The population has grown slightly, to about 230,500, according to 2018 American Community Survey annual estimates. 

A full count is critical because a decade of federal funding is at stake, Tyson said.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got 10 years,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd whatever goes in on Oct. 1, we鈥檙e stuck with.鈥�