Reports to Civic Nebraska’s Voter Helpline and from Civic Nebraska’s volunteer election observers indicated confusion this morning [11.5.24] regarding the state’s new ID mandate at several polling sites.
As of noon, Civic Nebraska had received five reports – two from Lancaster County, two from Sarpy County, and one from Douglas County – where poll workers were incorrectly telling unknown numbers of voters they could not cast a ballot because the address on their ID did not match the address on their voter registration. This is an unnecessary barrier. Matching addresses are not a requirement in Nebraska’s ID mandate.
In most instances, these errors resulted in voters resorting to casting provisional ballots, known as the “ballot of last resort,” which will not be counted until after Election Day. In some cases, at precincts in Omaha, Lincoln, and Bellevue, voters were turned away from the polls entirely for this reason.
Civic Nebraska alerted the Secretary of State’s Office, and the state’s Election Division reminded all county election offices to avoid further issues. It also shared posts on social media.
Nebraska’s ID mandate, enacted in April, requires voters to present a “qualifying ID” showing their name and photo. Poll workers must accept IDs from the federal government, including a U.S. passport; the State of Nebraska, such as a driver’s license or state-issued ID; any Nebraska college or university; local governments within the State of Nebraska; the U.S. military or IDs for veterans; Native tribes; and patient records with photos from nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. The law also allows for expired IDs from these institutions.
“Our state’s poll workers are working hard under pressure, but they must not inadvertently create additional barriers to Nebraskans’ ballots,” said Steve Smith of Civic Nebraska. “While there is no evidence this is happening broadly around the state, it’s crucial for all precincts to be clear on this aspect of the ID mandate.
“We thank the state Elections Division for acting quickly to provide absolute clarity on this matter.”
Other mid-day contacts from observers and the Helpline included:
›› About a half-dozen calls about electioneering, a common complaint on Election Day that involves wearing partisan clothing or accessories or placing campaign signs within 200 feet of a polling place’s entrance. One Bellevue church that also serves as a polling place had literature about one of the state’s abortion-related ballot initiatives within sight of the voting area.
›› Some Sarpy County voters were concerned that they could not connect with their election commission by telephone.
›› Several voters required assistance finding their polling place. Voters can find their precinct location here.
By midday on Tuesday, Civic Nebraska had received around 65 calls to the Voter Helpline. It also trained and deployed 120 election observers to monitor key polling places across the state. For the first time, ballot count observers also were deployed in key counties.
Nebraska has 1,264,149 registered voters. The Secretary of State’s Office predicts participation to be about 72 percent.
Early mail-in ballots must be returned to a secure dropbox by 8 p.m. CST (7 p.m. MST) to be counted. Voters can find an interactive map of every dropbox location in Nebraska here.
For more Election Day resources, visit Civic Nebraska’s Election 2024 Central hub.
