Ballot counting began Monday in Omaha, when can we expect results?
The countdown is over and the counting has begun.
County election officials in Nebraska started counting ballots Monday in this tightly contested presidential election with high interest local races and ballot measures, beginning a process that will continue late into the night on Election Day and beyond.
It is possible that conclusive results will be reached in many Nebraska contests by Tuesday night. But some races could be too close to call until Wednesday or later as the count continues.
"We do not sacrifice accuracy for speed," Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse said.
Nebraska voters cast paper ballots. They are counted by machine. In Douglas County, the election commission uses nine Digital Scan 850 counting machines that are manufactured and serviced by Omaha-based Election Systems & Software. The machines are sealed until counting begins the day before Election Day.
"These machines are not connected to the Internet," Kruse said Monday morning in the commission's counting room as he allowed members of the media to witness a test run. "They do not even have modems in them. They don't have the ability to be connected to the Internet, and they're not connected to each other."
They are stand-alone machines, he said, that "simply tabulate the ballots."
Watching the counters
The counting will be overseen by Kruse, a registered Republican, and Deputy Douglas County Election Commissioner Chris Carrithers, a registered Democrat.
During the counting, "We have individuals of two different parties, and we have three permanent staff members in here," Kruse said as a machine clicked and whirred behind him and cameras clicked in front of him. "We've got cameras in here. We do have windows for watchers."
State law says that each political party can appoint one observer to watch the counting. The Democratic, Republican and Legal Marijuana Now Party appointed observers in Douglas County, Kruse said. So he expected those three to be watching through the counting room windows.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Monday, the Douglas County Election Commission began machine counting the more than 117,000 early voting ballots that voters had retuned by Monday morning. It can start counting those Monday, under Nebraska law, but no one can look at the results until 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Those tallies of that first batch of early ballots are put on thumb drives that will be locked in a safe until Tuesday night. Those will be in the first batch of Douglas County results scheduled to be released to the public at 8 p.m., Kruse said. That will be about 50% of the Douglas County vote.
"Then on Tuesday, Election Day, we start to count ballots at approximately 3 p.m., because we bring ballots from voters that have voted from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Election Day back to our office starting around 2-2:30 p.m.," Kruse said.
That second batch of results is scheduled to be released at about 8:45 p.m., he said.
Ballots cast at polls between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. will be counted and released in batches Tuesday night: the first at 9:45 p.m., and the next at 10:45 p.m.
"We will do results as needed after that," Kruse said. "I am guessing because of the volume (of votes) we will do an 11:45 p.m. (release), I'm 99% sure we'll do an 11:45."
Kruse's crews will stay Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning until they have counted all Election Day ballots, with the exceptions of provisional ballots and unopened early ballots.
"We don't stop; we don't go home," Kruse said.
Election officials in the other 92 Nebraska counties will proceed similarly with the count, although they don't all have the same release schedule as Douglas County.
The county election officials submit their results to the Nebraska Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's office posts statewide results through the evening and into the night Tuesday.
It's important to note that all results posted on election night are unofficial. They don't become official results until they are certified by each county election office.
"We expect to report 96% of unofficial results by the following morning," Jackie Ourada, a Nebraska Secretary of State's spokesperson, said by email. "The main accounting for the remaining 4% is early voting ballots received on Election Day."
A smaller portion of that 4%, she said, consists of provisional votes that need to be researched and verified, including making sure that the voters didn't vote anywhere else in the state.
"This will also be the first general election in Nebraska with our new voter ID law," Ourada said. "We could see a potential delay in processing some provisional ballots if voters do not bring an ID with them to the polls."
Voters who cast provisional ballots because they don't have photo ID with them at the polls have until the Tuesday following Election Day to present an acceptable form of photo ID to their county election office.
"We expect to see 99%-plus unofficial results by Nov. 15, and full unofficial results by Nov. 25, the deadline for counties to certify their results to our office," Ourada said.
County election officials do a post-election manual hand count of paper ballots, administered by the Nebraska Secretary of State's Office, in a few select races and select precincts chosen by the secretary of state, Kruse said.
He cited a Douglas County Board race in 2020 in which then-incumbent County Board Member Mike Boyle finished just three votes ahead of challenger Roger Garcia. That triggered an automatic recount. The recount confirmed that Boyle, who has since died, indeed finished three votes ahead of Garcia, who is now chair of the county board.
"We do all kinds of pre-testing," Kruse said. "We do a big audit after the election, including the post-election manual hand count. Voters in Douglas County and Nebraska should be assured and reassured that every ballot that is cast properly will indeed be counted and their voice will be heard."
He said election officials understand that people want results fast. They work hard to make that happen, he said, but accuracy is more important.
"Election integrity takes time," said Valerie Stoj, Douglas County Election Commission spokesperson.
, 402-444-1057, twitter.com/CHRISBURBACH
Election Day is here!
Polls in Nebraska are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain. If you are in line when polls close, you can still vote.
You can follow along at Omaha.com to hear from voters as they make their selections and into the night as local, statewide and national results roll in.
Delivery of Wednesday's World-Herald may be delayed for some subscribers so we can provide coverage of the election. Subscribers also can read our online E-edition at Omaha.com.
Please vote!
More Coverage
Nebraska secretary of state predicts lower voter turnout than 2020. Page A2
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