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Nebraska’s midterm primary on May 12 is just over three months away. This midterm of President Trump’s administration is being defined by extreme partisanship and polarization. Can that spill onto a polling place? Dale Johnson reached out to Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet.
Tracy Overstreet: A polling place is a protected place. We operate as a neutral place. We have our poll workers trained, and we have bipartisanship represented at our polling places. And so I think that people can be comfortable knowing that it's a neutral, safe place. We also work with law enforcement and we have meetings leading up to every election with local and state law enforcement to kind of gauge what the temperature is and to make plans if we think that there might be activity at any particular polling site.
Dale Johnson: A significant portion of Hall County's population identifies as a racial or ethnic minority, the largest group being Hispanic or Latino, making up almost 19% of residents. That's according to the census figures. Having said that, it's possible that ICE would be drawn to a location where ethnic minority voters would be headed on election day. Do you see that as a factor that might affect voter turnout in Hall County?
Overstreet: I don't really see that as a factor affecting voter turnout, primarily because you have to be a citizen to be a registered voter. That's federal regulation, and it's obviously honored in the state as well. So I think the ICE activity really, that we have seen across the country really is towards non-citizens and trying to remove non-citizens, and that doesn't really translate over into voting because to be a registered voter in state Nebraska, again you're a citizen, and you're 18 by general election day.
Johnson: And there's also a protective buffer. Is it 200 feet?
Overstreet: There is a protective buffer. It is 200 feet, so there's no campaigning that goes on outside of a polling area. And we watch that, and work with law enforcement. I know here in Hall County, our police and sheriff both help on election day, and we'll do drive-bys by polling places, and sometimes they might walk in just to make sure that everything's calm. I think we see a lot of “Nebraska nice” across our state, and I think that's fantastic.
Johnson: You told me that you were seeing places that have been traditional polling locations in the past are deciding they're not going to do it this year. Why not?
Overstreet: After Sandy Hook we got out of all of the schools in Hall County, mostly because schools went to greater security measures, having locked doors, having to buzz people in, buzz them out, and keeping track of people coming in and out, which is completely warranted, but it made it hard on election day for people to get in and out. We have a lot of traffic coming in now, so we had gotten out of most of the schools, but not all of the schools. And I have one location now that has really decided they think they're probably ready to be done being a polling place, just because of the polarization and some of the discussions and kind of negativity toward one another.
Johnson: And poll worker recruitment, you tell me it's tougher this year. What's going on?
Overstreet: Well, poll worker recruitment is always something that all election officials across the country are working on all the time. We typically have about 15 to 20 volunteers who do voter registration drives across our county throughout the year, and this year we've had double the people show up for that. I hope that we see that same enthusiasm for the 2026 election occur with poll worker numbers. We're getting ready to send out our poll worker recruitment letter and invitation to trainings in probably around mid to late February, and we'll see what the response is. But it's always something that every election official is working on, getting that word out that first of all, this is not a volunteer position. A lot of people think it's volunteer, and it's a very long day, but it's not volunteer. You are paid, and in the state of Nebraska, you have to be paid minimum wage, so you're working really a 13-hour day, and you're getting paid $15 an hour for that. But it is a long day. It can be tiring, but it's very, very invigorating in that you've really served your community. You've served your country when you serve as a poll worker. So I urge everyone to consider doing that and to contact their local election official to be a part and see how elections are organized. I think that will give everyone a much greater confidence level in how elections are conducted in the United States. We really have a great system.
Johnson: That's right, we're talking midterms three and a half months away, May 12, the primary election date here in Nebraska. Tracy Overstreet Hall County Election Commissioner joining me for the conversation. Thank you, Tracy. It gets busier from this point on, doesn't it?
Overstreet: It does. Sign up to be a poll worker everyone.
Johnson: Thanks everybody for being with us. I'm Dale Johnson on Nebraska Public Media.