League of Women Voters of Nebraska co-president has confidence in the election

For more than 100 years, the League of Women Voters has worked to empower voters and defend the democratic system. With the November 2024 election already underway, the co-president of the nonprofit organization’s Nebraska chapter, Claudia Stevenson, says she has every confidence that it will be conducted fairly and accurately.

Stevenson, who lives in Keith County and has been active with the league for four years, talked with the Nebraska Independent on Oct. 28 about Nebraska’s electoral system and why voters should feel confident in the state’s election results.

“I have complete confidence in our election, the election workers. I’m actually a poll worker in western Nebraska, and it’s really an impressive process to watch it all happen. It’s very quick, very seamless, and people are polite when you go vote. So I have no question about the results I see from Nebraska.”

Stevenson said the mechanics of Nebraska’s elections instill confidence. She noted that Nebraska voters must show a valid ID to vote, and that that can be a driver’s license, a U.S. passport, or one of a number of other official documents: “You state who you are, you repeat your address. They [check your ID and] make sure that all matches. If it doesn’t match, you can still vote” via a provisional ballot, which will be counted, assuming the voter’s identity can be verified, within seven days. Observers from both major political parties can observe the process to make sure all the rules are followed. 

Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen, a Republican, took part in an Oct. 9 summit on election security and integrity with his counterparts from three other midwestern states. Asked about voters who are skeptical of the process, Evnen noted the failsafes in the state’s system and urged citizens to watch the process themselves, as poll workers or observers.

“We test every ballot-counting machine in the state three times before every statewide primary and general election, when we’re testing these machines for accuracy,” he said. “Post-election, after this election, we will select 10% of our precincts and hand-count three races. The precincts will be selected randomly, although there will be at least one precinct in every county.” 

Evnen added that in 2022, the machine-count was confirmed for all but 11 of the 48,000-plus ballots hand-counted and that in the case of five of those, the ballots were very lightly marked and the machine couldn’t read them. “That’s a discrepancy rate of 0.023%.”