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    What to know before Election Day in Nebraska's 2024 general election • Nebraska Examiner
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    What to know before Election Day in Nebraska's 2024 general election • Nebraska Examiner

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    LINCOLN – Attention voters in Nebraska: Those of you who haven't voted yet have been bombarded for months with ads and text messages and campaign mailers and news coverage. They are ready to vote.

    A graphic of acceptable IDs that allow people to vote early in Nebraska. (Courtesy of the Nebraska Secretary of State)

    But one more reminder before you go to vote: take a photo ID with you.

    The state's voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2022 requiring photo ID to vote, and lawmakers in 2023 determined what types of ID would be accepted.

    Primary voters have already completed the ID exercise, but this is the first statewide general election since the changes. If you forget an ID, you must go home to get it and come back, or you must vote provisionally and bring an ID to your county elections office after Election Day.

    Information for early voters

    If you would like to vote early in person on Monday, you must present a state-recognized ID at your county elections office.

    Monday is the last day to vote in person at a county clerk's office or county elections office. However, voters can still return their early ballots to a mailbox in the county until Tuesday at 8 p.m.

    It is now too late to send a ballot by mail. Mailed ballots must be received by counties before in-person voting ends at 8 p.m. Central Tuesday.

    Early voters come, especially in person

    If Nebraska's most populous county is any indication, voter turnout in the 2024 presidential election could be exceptional.

    Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse last week predicted an overall voter turnout in the county of 73%, including ballots cast on Election Day, but said it could reach 75%.

    Voter turnout for the 2020 presidential election was 74.6%, due in part to overwhelming early absentee voting related to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Typical presidential turnout in Douglas is slightly lower. In the two previous national general presidential elections, voter turnout was 69.7% in 2016 and 68.9% in 2012.

    Rain or shine, daily lines outside the Douglas County Election Commission snaked around the building, with people standing outside for an hour or more, officials said.

    “The rain didn’t deter them one bit,” Kruse said.

    Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen. Oct. 9, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    About 17,455 people had voted in person at the West Omaha office as of Friday morning. Kruse predicted that up to 22,000 people would vote by late Monday. In 2020, 14,282 people voted early in person.

    Kruse said there had been virtually no problems in his office so far and that the election was safe. He said people waiting in line “made new friends and visited each other.”

    Kruse said he remains confident in the overall process. He called the high level of interest in voting this year a sign that “our democracy is alive and well.”

    “Voters should be assured that elections in Douglas County and across Nebraska are safe and secure,” Kruse said.

    Information for personal voters

    People who choose to vote in person on Tuesday should allow extra time because interest in the election is greater than usual, election officials urged.

    Polls are open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain Time. You can check your polling place at https://www.votercheck.necvr.ne.gov/voterview.

    Lines are expected to be slightly longer and slower during the morning and evening rush hours before and after daytime work hours. The process may also take a little longer because poll workers have to check IDs.

    Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse speaks outside the local elections office in Omaha. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

    Valid voter IDs include Nebraska driver's licenses, state ID cards, college ID cards, military ID cards, nursing home or hospital records, tribal ID cards, political subdivision ID cards, or U.S. passports.

    State election officials can obtain more information about how voter ID works in Nebraska on the Secretary's website at https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/voter-id

    Anyone with questions may call their county elections office at any of the numbers listed here: https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/election-officials-contact-information.

    The Secretary of State's Office will also be manning its Election Day phones at 402-471-2555.

    Election observers from both major parties will monitor polling stations across the country. Voting advocacy groups encouraged anyone who had problems to report them.

    Common Cause Nebraska offers a toll-free dial line at 866-687-8683. Civic Nebraska operates a voter helpline at 402-890-5291.

    How results will occur

    Nebraska began counting early ballots on Monday. In many states, state law does not allow election officials to count early ballots until Election Day. This slows results and often results in longer wait times for results in more populous counties.

    The state will begin posting unofficial election results online on Tuesday starting at 8 p.m. Central or 7 p.m. Mountain electionresults.nebraska.gov.

    These results are updated every five minutes until the last county election officials finish, often well after midnight.

    Some counties also operate their own separate results pages, which are updated throughout the night. Douglas and Sarpy counties, for example, begin releasing early ballot counts at 8 p.m

    Because this is the first general election since voter ID was implemented in Nebraska, officials expect a higher number of provisional ballots to be cast.

    But election officials were encouraged that only a handful of people had problems with their IDs in the May primary and that they don't expect any major problems.

    The biggest increase in vote counting after Election Day typically occurs on Friday. Douglas County will not open and count its early votes returned on Election Day until Friday.

    That's often thousands of votes, but historically those votes have rarely changed the outcome of a race except in races by the slimmest of margins.

    The results of these early votes, which were returned to the Electoral Commission on Election Day, tend to follow the same pattern as the first wave of early voting results on Tuesday.

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