Security is at the heart of Nebraska’s elections. Our state has time-tested measures in place to ensure security in all phases of the election process, from registration all the way through to certification. In fact, Nebraska’s elections are a national model for efficiency, accuracy, and security. Our election officials are sworn to uphold their integrity, and they take the utmost care to keep voter information, registrations, and ballots safe.
Facts are facts: Your vote is safe. It’s secure. And it’s certified.
Your vote is cast anonymously, and at every step of the election process your ballot is handled with the utmost of care.
Election officials carefully process all ballots before they are counted. This includes the verification of voters’ signatures and the physical preparation of ballots for tabulation. Once secured, ballots are not touched until election officials are legally allowed to begin tabulating them.
Your ballot is kept under a well-documented sequence of control. Bipartisan counting boards count ballots in every county.
Your county’s election official appoints two or more registered voters to the counting board. These voters must be balanced between political parties and also can include registered voters unaffiliated with any party. Observers also can be appointed to watch ballot-counting – each party can have one observer at each counting location.
Once your ballot is processed and counted, it is then double- and triple-checked by county and state canvassing boards.
In the weeks following Election Day, your county “canvasses” the votes to ensure accuracy. If a canvassing board finds an error, this is the point when it must be corrected. The county canvassing board can recount ballots for any candidate or any measure that appear to be in error, and must thoroughly document any corrections.
In-Person
on
Election Day
›› Ballots do not list a voter’s name.
›› Completed ballots are placed in a secure box with a poll worker witness.
›› Election workers follow strict protocols to maintain security and privacy.
›› Election workers follow a well-documented sequence of control to ensure ballots are delivered safely for counting.
Facts are facts: Your day-of, in-person ballot is safe. It’s secure. And it’s certified.
In-Person
Before
Election Day
›› Early in-person ballots do not list a voter’s name.
›› Election workers follow strict protocols to maintain security and privacy.
›› Once cast, returned ballots are kept in a secure container until it is time to count them. This container never leaves the election office’s possession.
Facts are facts: Your early in-person ballot is safe. It’s secure. And it’s certified.
By Mail or Dropbox
On or Before
Election Day
›› Vote-by-mail ballots are made of paper and must be hand-marked, making them un-hackable.
›› Vote-by-mail ballots employ sealed envelopes, rendering any attempts to tamper with them after they’ve been submitted difficult – and apparent to election officials if someone tries.
›› All Nebraska counties have at least one secure ballot dropbox location. These secure dropboxes reduce the risk of voter coercion by allowing individual voters to maintain autonomy and return their own ballots easily and conveniently.
›› No one but designated election staff has access to dropboxes.
›› Video surveillance of ballots – in dropboxes or election offices waiting to be counted, or during processing and tabulation — deters ballot tampering.
›› Robust, transparent record-keeping tracks everyone who mailed a ballot, the number of ballots issued, the staff who were involved in receiving the ballots, the time at which staff handled the ballots, the number of returned ballots, and the names and addresses of those whose ballot has been received. Any deviation is thoroughly investigated.
Facts are facts: Your early mail-in ballot is safe. It’s secure. And it’s certified.
Civic Nebraska News
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