Clerks scramble to find poll workers amid COVID-19 concerns

The process may be a little different for the May 12 Primary Election in Nebraska, but registered voters in the state will still have the opportunity for in-person voting.

During a recent press conference, Governor Pete Ricketts announced the primary election will continue as scheduled. Ricketts emphasized that fulfilling the state's duty to carry out elections is vital to the health of the democratic republic.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen confirmed polling sites will be open for Nebraskans who prefer to vote in person on Election Day. He said the state will provide sanitation kits at each polling place. The kits will contain sanitizers and disinfectant wipes, along with masks and gloves for poll workers. He said polling sites will not be limited to 10 persons, though each one will have protocols in place to maintain social distance between voters.

Local election commissioners, Antelope County clerk Lisa Payne and Holt County clerk Cathy Pavel, like those across the state, are scrambling to recruit enough poll workers. The two counties each have 13 voting precincts, although fewer polling sites, eight in Antelope and nine in Holt County. By statute, each precinct is to have five workers on site, although they can hold elections with as few as three in each, a minimum of 39 in each county, with requirements for both Democrat and Republican parties represented in each precinct, according to Payne and Pavel.

Antelope County has approximately 4,600 registered voters, Holt County, just over 7,000.

With one confirmed worker as of Monday, Pavel said she had received many phone calls from previous poll personnel, who declined to help this year due to coronavirus concerns. She said recruitment calls will wait until after she determines how poll worker training will be handled due to COVID-19 issues.

Payne said she had began making calls but had no confirmed workers as of Monday morning. Neither clerk could predict how the election would proceed if enough workers cannot be found.

Payne said she was unsure of the procedure for opening polls precincts where 100% of registered voters apply for absentee ballots.

"I asked the secretary of state's office last week," she said. "They said they didn't know, that the question had not come up."

Nebraska is a "no excuse" early ballot state, meaning registered voters may request early ballots by mail simply by filling out and signing a request. Local voters received applications for absentee voting in their mailboxes last week. The applications were mailed by the secretary of state's office in a statewide effort to encourage voting by mail to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.

According the local clerks, applications were mailed to all Nebraska voters, except those in counties that had initiated their own mail application process.

Despite a return address indicating the applications came from the local county office, Payne said they were mailed by the state office without cost to counties. She indicated approximately 400 applications had been returned to her office as of Monday morning. Two hundred were ready to be mailed back to voters Monday evening and she anticipated the other 200 would also be mailed that day.

Pavel confirmed applications sent to voters in Holt County were also sent by the SOS office. She said, as of Monday morning, about 225-250 applications had been returned to her office by mail, email, fax or left in a drop box outside the courthouse door. She said under normal circumstances, ballots would be mailed the same day as requests are received. However, she had doubts her staff, two full-time and one part-time, including herself, could keep that pace this year.

The Omaha World Herald, on Monday, reported more than 100,000 Nebraskans had requested early ballots, compared to roughly 59,000 who voted early in each of the 2018 and 2016 primaries.

Rickets encouraged Nebraskans to vote early by mail or by delivering their ballots to drop boxes located outside county courthouses across the state. Drop boxes are located outside the south doors of both local courthouses. Payne said hers was too small to accommodate the number of ballots anticipated, but the SOS office was sending a larger one. The deadline for submitting early voting applications is May 1.

Those choosing to vote by mail are reminded that ballots must reach their county election drop box or election commissioner's office by the close of business on Election Day.

May 11 is the last day to vote in person at a courthouse.

By state election statute, in-person early voting at county courthouses may begin Monday, April 13. Offices in both courthouses are restricted, due to COVID-19, with access by appointment only. Pavel said she did not plan to make appointments for early voting. Payne, on the other hand, said she "hoped" not to deny requests. Both are waiting for direction from Evnen's office. They said directives are changing daily.

Nearby Knox County will conduct an all-mail election.

Former Secretary of State John Gale approved a request from county clerk and election commissioner Joann Fischer in January 2019 for a countywide mail-only election precinct. Knox County is one of 11 counties to be approved for countywide mail-only voting in Nebraska, including Cedar, Dixon and Boone.

Mail-only voting is available in counties with less than 10,000 population, but application must be made to the secretary of state 75 days prior to an election.

"Ballots will be automatically mailed to registered voters 22 days prior to an election and the voter, at his or her leisure, may vote the ballot at home and return it with the envelope that will be provided," said Fischer. "Return postage will be affixed to the return ballot envelope for all primary and general elections."  

According to Fischer, mail-only voting is similar to early voting.

"The difference being, the voters will not apply for a ballot," she said.

The status of mail ballots may be checked at: https://www.votercheck.necvr.ne.gov/VoterView/AbsenteeBallotSearch.do

Voter Registration Information

The following are the deadlines to register to vote in Nebraska:

• Mail-in voter registrations must be mailed and postmarked on or before the third Friday preceding an election.

• Registrations completed at the state Department of Motor Vehicles must be completed by the third Friday preceding an election.

• Voter registrations delivered by personal messenger or personal agent must arrive on or before the third Friday preceding an election.

• Individuals may register in person at the County Clerk/Election Commissioner's office prior to 6 p.m. on the second Friday preceding an election.