And you thought Christmas decorations going on sale before Halloween was aggressive. Today, Civic Nebraska launched its 2022 Election Central hub, a one-stop shop for voters in next year’s statewide, legislative, and federal elections.
We’re putting Election Central out there now for two reasons – first, though Nebraska had no statewide elections in 2021, we’re increasingly receiving enthusiastic questions from Nebraskans seeking details about our state’s next round of elections. In some cases, this was prompted by the recent high-profile gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, which stirred more than your average amount of partisan passions for odd-numbered, off-year elections. In others, people are envisioning a post-pandemic 2022, are planning their end-of-school-year vacations, and want to be sure they know how and when they can cast their ballots in the May primary.
The second big reason is that the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office has now released its 2022 election calendar. This gave us the opportunity to fill in a number of blanks about key ’22 dates, deadlines, and other details for the electoral year ahead.
We have a number of links at 2022 Election Central, including:
›› A calendar of key 2022 dates for voters, from registration deadlines and early mail-in ballot schedules to canvassing board meeting dates;
›› An FAQ page for the May 10, 2022, primary, which we’ll continually update as the primary gets closer. This covers everything from whether you can take time off from work to vote, to the various adjectives for different ballots, to whether or not you need photo identification to cast your ballot (you don’t). Keep this page bookmarked, because it changes fairly regularly;
›› An interactive map to every ballot dropbox in Nebraska. Use this map to find the dropbox closest to you in your county of residence, and if you’re inclined, use it to drop off your early mail-in ballot request form as well as your completed early mail-in ballot. Many voters wish not to mail their ballots, and this is a safe and secure way to make sure your vote counts;
›› Our popular Know Your Rights! and How To Vote By Mail videos, courtesy of our Voting Rights Initiatives staff; and
›› Decoding The Ballot 2022 (coming soon), which will break down and explain the offices, issues, and races on the 2022 statewide primary ballot. It’s November 2021, gang, and it’s just too soon to put anything worthwhile in this regard together just yet. But look for it this coming spring.
Man, after reading all that, now we’re pumped up about 2022!
