Nebraska secretary of state predicts lower voter turnout than 2020
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen predicted Monday that voter turnout for the general presidential election will be 72% in the Cornhusker State.
That would be lower than the 76% statewide turnout in the 2020 presidential election. Evnen based his estimate on early voting turnout and trends in recent general elections, according to a press release from his office.
"County election offices have done a remarkable job helping early voters cast their ballots securely," Evnen said in a statement. "Nebraskans continue to fulfill the new voter ID requirement before voting, and we expect that to continue on Election Day."
The 2020 general election turnout in Nebraska set a record for number of voters, but fell short of the record percentage, 80.8%, set in the 1968 election in which Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey.
"Turnout predictions are not an exact science, particularly in the changing environment that we are experiencing today," Evnen said.
In Omaha, Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse has predicted a 73% turnout, slightly lower than the 74.6% total in the 2020 presidential election. He based that in part on the fact that fewer Douglas County voters requested early ballots this year than during the pandemic in 2020, when counties statewide sent early voting request forms to all registered voters.
Statewide, county election offices generally have not received as many early voting applications as they did in 2020, and therefore have received fewer early voting ballots returned by mail or drop box than in 2020, said Jackie Ourada, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office.
In-person early voting exceeds 2020
But early voting in person at county election offices was exceeding the 2020 numbers, she said.
Douglas County had blasted past a record for early voting in person at the election commission office even before Monday, the last day of early in-person voting. On Monday morning, hundreds of people again queued up to cast ballots at the election commission office.
Polls will be open on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time, or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain time.
On Monday, state and Douglas County election officials urged voters who still have not returned their early voting ballots to do so. Tuesday is the final day voters can return their early voting ballots to county election offices.
Statewide, about 58,000 early ballots had yet to be returned by Monday morning, Ourada said. About 16,000 Douglas County voters had yet to return the early ballots they requested, Kruse said.
In order to be counted, those ballots must be in county election offices or official county election drop boxes before polls close on Election Day.
Don't forget to sign the back of the ballot envelope, Kruse reminded voters Monday. And it's too late at this point to send a ballot by mail.
"Please, please use one of our drop boxes," he said. "Postmarks do not count in Nebraska, and if you use the U.S. mail, it will never get to us on time. We have 13 drop boxes in the county. They are safe. They are secure. They have 24/7 cameras."
Douglas County and Sarpy County have multiple drop boxes. Every county in Nebraska has at least one.
, 402-444-1057, twitter.com/CHRISBURBACH
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