A recent Gallup poll found that a nontrivial number of Americans are concerned about election integrity and democratic processes heading into the pivotal midterm elections. But Nebraska and all 50 states implement a number of checks and balances that keep elections safe and secure. Here’s how it all works:
Elections in Nebraska are run locally, administered directly by election officials in each of the state’s 93 counties. The Nebraska Secretary of State provides oversight and coordination, enforcing election law, supervising voting equipment, maintaining the state’s voter registration system, and tabulating election results.
After being approved at the ballot box in 2022, Nebraska’s voters are constitutionally required to present an acceptable form of photo ID before casting a ballot in every primary, general, and special election. Voters without ID may still have provisional options, depending on the situation. Find more information about Nebraska voter ID here.
Whether by mail or at a physical polling place, Nebraskans cast their vote using a paper ballot. These ballots are secured by election officials and loaded into a tabulation machine for counting.
Nebraska uses two primary types of voting equipment during an election. The first is an optical scanner. This machine reads a marked ballot and tabulates the vote based on where the mark appears for each race or question. For voters with disabilities, casting a paper ballot privately and unassisted is done using a ballot-marking device with a variety of tools called ExpressVote.
All election equipment used in Nebraska is federally certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office says that all tabulation machines are not connected to the internet or other networks, not even to send results.
Nebraska election officials conduct regular independent tests prior to elections to certify accuracy. These tests are observed by designated watchers from varying political parties.
As a rule, election night results are considered unofficial, as some provisional and early vote ballots can still be lawfully counted. The official results are certified by county and state canvassing boards.
After statewide elections, audits are conducted to verify results and ensure accuracy. Precincts are selected at random to have selected races subject to a hand count and cross checked with machine results to make sure there are no irregularities in the election process.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, a Republican, has often referred to the state’s election system as the “gold standard,” due to its reliance on layered checks, paper ballots, voter ID, and effective audits.
