FAQs about the 2024 elections

Frequently asked questions about the May 14, 2024, statewide primary elections and the November 5, 2024, statewide general election.

Election Dates

Nebraska will hold its statewide primary elections on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
Election Day is November 5, 2024. In the general election, ballots will include:
  • President, all three Congressional seats, and both U.S. Senate seats;
  • Members of the Nebraska Legislature;
  • Local and county races;
  • Several ballot initiatives.

Registering to vote

Check your registration
Register to vote

If you are already registered to vote in Nebraska, you do not have to re-register for the 2024 elections.

If you register for the primary, you do not need to re-register for the general election.
Primary election (May 14, 2024)

Register ONLINE by 11:59 pm CDT on April 29, 2024. The in-person registration deadline will be announced in November.

General election (November 5, 2024)

Register ONLINE by 11:59 pm CDT on Oct. 18, 2024.

Register IN PERSON at your county election office by 6 pm CDT on Oct. 25, 2024.
Go here to check — and then double-check. It takes 30 seconds.
When you register, you’ll receive a confirmation card in the U.S. Mail from your county’s election commissioner. This card has your personal information and the location of your polling place on it. If you receive this card and this information is not included on it, please contact your county’s election commission.
As a student, you are not required to re-register at your college address if you wish not to. Temporary leaves from your home city do not require a change in voter registration. That said, it’s up to you! If you wish to re-register to vote in the city where you go to college, that’s your right and you can certainly do so.

Voting by mail

Yes. If you wish to vote early by mail – and any registered voter in our state can do so for any reason – you must first fill out a request for that ballot.

Voters must complete and sign the application portion of the mailing and return it to their election commission office to receive a ballot by mail. 

›› You do not need to provide a reason to get a mail-in ballot. Nebraska is a “no excuse” state, meaning we place no unnecessary burdens on showing why you want to request an early ballot. 
›› The Secretary of State’s Office will release full election dates, including vote-by-mail deadlines and registration guidance, in November 2023. We will update this section as soon as we receive that information.
Only your first request will be processed. Anything else will be discarded. Our election systems have guardrails against sending out multiple ballots to the same person – you can’t, for example, send in three requests for a mail-in ballot, and then get three ballots. If you send in three requests for a mail-in ballot, only the first one counts. You will only get one ballot.
First, know that voting by mail is extremely secure. If you want to be absolutely sure that your ballot is received as quickly as possible, you can always take it to your county dropbox anytime before 8 pm CDT on Election Day. You can track the status of your ballot here

In-person voting

All Nebraska counties offer in-person early voting, usually starting a month before Election Day and going up to the Monday before the election. 
See our Key Election Dates page for more information.
If you choose to vote in person in 2024, you can head to your polling station from 8 am to 8 pm CDT on May 14 to vote in the primary election, and again from 8 am to 8 pm CDT on November 5 to vote in the general election. Find your polling place here.
Yes. Nebraska law allows workers time off to vote in certain circumstances. If you are scheduled to work the 12 hours when the polls are open, you can take up to two consecutive hours off to vote. If you apply for this time off before or even on Election Day, your employer can’t punish you or subtract wages on account of your absence. Under the law, your employer is also entitled to specify the hours when you can be gone from work to vote. Work in advance with your employer to ensure you are given time to get to the polls. It’s your right.
Yes, yes — by all means, yes! Stay in line. As long as you are in line by 8 p.m. CDT, you must be allowed to vote.

Electioneering

Here is how Nebraska law defines electioneering, which is a Class V misdemeanor (maximum fine: $100):

›› The deliberate, visible display or audible or physical dissemination of information for the purpose of advocating for or against:

(i) Any candidate on the ballot for the election at which such display or dissemination is occurring;

(ii) Any elected officeholder of a state constitutional office or federal office at the time of the election at which such display or dissemination is occurring;

(iii) Any political party on the ballot for the election at which such display or dissemination is occurring; or

(iv) Any measure on the ballot for the election at which such display or dissemination is occurring.

›› No judge or clerk of election or precinct or district inspector shall do any electioneering while acting as an election official.

›› No person shall do any electioneering or circulate petitions within any polling place or any building designated for voters to cast ballots by the election commissioner or county clerk pursuant to the Election Act while the polling place or building is set up for voters to cast ballots or within two hundred feet of any such polling place or building.

›› No person shall do any electioneering within two hundred feet of any secure ballot dropbox.

The only exception is if campaign/candidate paraphernalia is on someone’s private property, and that private property is less than 200 feet from a polling place.

Claims of electioneering are common on Election Day. Before notifying law enforcement, please review the statute to be sure what you are seeing is, by the letter of the law, actually electioneering. The general rule of thumb – petitions, campaign signs, and other campaign paraphernalia should be at least 200 feet from a polling place.

A free, democratic society requires each voter to have the right to cast his or her ballot free from intimidation or coercion. Voter intimidation is illegal. Federal law specifically prohibits:

›› Intimidation, threats, or coercion – or attempted intimidation, threats, or coercion – of others, “for the purpose of interfering with” someone’s right to vote, or to vote as they may choose.

›› Willfully injuring, intimidating, or interfering with any person because they are voting or have voted, or to intimidate anyone to not vote.

Also, Section 2 of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act makes it a federal crime for two or more people to “conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat” any voter from casting a ballot for the candidate of their choice.

Nebraska, like all U.S. states, has separate prohibitions on interfering with or intimidating voters.

Learn more about voter intimidation here.

Ballot access

This is serious business, and we should know about it right away. If you have been denied a ballot for any reason, we encourage you to contact Civic Nebraska’s Election Protection Line at 402.890.5291, via email at info@civicnebraska.org; or via Facebook or X. 
Yes. As of April 1, 2024, valid photographic identification will be required to vote in Nebraska. Visit our Voter ID in Nebraska page for the types of IDs that are accepted in order to vote, as well as information on how to obtain a valid ID.
Be a nonpartisan election observer. Contact our Voting Rights Initiatives team for more information.
Be an election worker. Click here for more information.

Locations

After School Programs

  • Sherman Elementary School

    5618 N 14th Ave.
    Omaha, NE 68110

  • Lewis and Clark Middle School

    6901 Burt St.
    Omaha, NE 68132

  • Lothrop Magnet Elementary

    3300 N. 22nd St.
    Omaha, NE 68110

  • Campbell Elementary School

    2200 Dodge St.
    Lincoln, NE 68521

  • Lincoln High School

    2229 J St.
    Lincoln, NE 68510

  • Lincoln Northeast High School

    2635 N. 63rd St.
    Lincoln, NE 68507