Turnout spikes in Nebraska's by-mail voting counties as conspiracy theories and opposition remain loud

The small town of Center, Nebraska — population 79 — pops up on Nebraska 84 past the tall cliffs of the Bazile Creek. The winding, hilly drive in northeast Nebraska leads to the Knox County Courthouse. On the south end of town, a veteran’s memorial marks the county building.

Center wasn’t settled until the courthouse in nearby Niobrara flooded, causing the county to look for a new seat.

“It happened to be that two farmers donated this land, and actually it is right smack dab in the middle of the county,” County Clerk Joann Fischer said. “In 1901, this became the county seat.”

A century and a quarter later, Fischer and her team of four are preparing for the May 12 primary election. The clerk's office is marking voter envelopes for postage. Tech services is also visiting to situate the county’s security cameras that guard its ballot drop-off box.

Fischer has been the clerk for 24 years and has worked in the clerk’s office for more than 50 years. Nearly a decade ago, the county realized some people were driving 30 miles one way to vote.

“I think it was 2018 that we went with three precincts [by mail], and what we looked at was one of the precincts, we were only getting a 5% turnout,” Fischer said.

The voter turnout results changed for the better, so the county applied to administer elections by mail for everyone.

“Where we might have only had, at best in a primary, 50-some percent, we are getting it in the 80 percent turnout now,” Fischer said, “which I think is great.”

By April 20, ballots will hit the postal service’s network of carriers and eventually into the mailboxes of more than 5,500 registered voters in Knox County.

How it started and how it’s going

Mail-in voting isn’t exactly new in the Cornhusker State.

In 2005, conservative then-state Sen. Deb Fischer introduced an entirely by-mail voting system to the Nebraska Legislature. The 67 counties with less than 10,000 people would be eligible for all mail-in voting. The legislation sought to help voters living miles from their precincts.

The western Nebraska representative’s bill passed, and in 2006, Sen. Fischer’s home county of Cherry County piloted by-mail voting. Twenty years later, 135 total precincts are participating — after the latest round of redistricting — across 19 counties. Knox is one of 11 counties utilizing entirely by-mail voting; the others are Boone, Cedar, Cherry, Clay, Dawes, Dixon, Garden, Merrick, Morrill and Stanton, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office.

Now-U.S. Sen. Fischer’s office didn’t return emails seeking comment.

Clara Wilson is the director of voting rights initiatives at Civic Nebraska. She said the people have spoken that mail-in voting is something they support. Turnout reflects that.

“Those rural communities that have universal vote by mail have an 83% turnout rate,” Wilson said.

That compares to a 78.6% turnout for rural counties without vote-by-mail, Wilson said.

In recent years, the Nebraska Legislature has floated the idea of restricting vote by mail in the state. In 2023, two bills that didn’t make it out of committee, LB228 and LB230, would have required in-person voting except for nursing home residents and the military. Wilson said those proposals aren’t compatible with people’s wants and needs. Nebraska’s legislature is primarily Republican, as are the majority of mail-in voters, Wilson added.

“They are most likely to vote Republican in our electoral votes, and we've been a historically Republican voting state,” Wilson said, “and so we know that if those community members are using vote by mail because it's serving them, then we need to continue to honor and respect that.”

There are countless reasons turnout has improved for mail-in voting counties. Working-class families don’t have to choose between an hourly paycheck and driving long distances to vote, Wilson said. Preserving mail-in voting is crucial for the sizable senior population of rural, vote-by-mail counties and should be preserved as such, she added.

“If their polling place is more than an hour drive away, folks who are living in assisted care or don't have a vehicle or can't drive any longer would lose that access to vote, and in a pretty severe way,” Wilson said.

Voting by mail has been “a substantial part of voting in Nebraska” in the last decade, said Gavin Geis, director of Common Cause Nebraska.

Since universal mail-in voting was approved by the state Legislature, the practice has expanded, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Geis said.

“I think there's a couple factors that play into the popularity of voting by mail in Nebraska,” Geis said. “I think absolutely 2020 and the pandemic had a big impact on how Nebraskans use and view mail-in voting.”

Geis noted that by-mail voting has “tapered back a bit” since 2020.

Another factor driving the interest in mail-in voting is that finding poll workers has been a challenge for in-person precincts, Geis said. That, combined with how cost-effective mail-in voting can be, has led to growth of the practice.

“It was a question of whether or not they could find enough people to work the polls on Election Day,” Geis said. “County administrators [were] looking for solutions to ensure people could cast a ballot and finding out that in-person polling places were just difficult to staff, difficult to pay for, difficult to administer effectively.”

Sparsely populated counties using by-mail voting don’t have to worry about draining their bank account or drafting poll workers, which happens when not enough people offer their time. Other than the logistical and turnout dividends, voters can also research their candidates from the comfort of their home.

“Receiving a ballot at home allows me to research every candidate,” Geis said.

That equates to a more informed electorate and politicians that better represent their constituent’s needs, he said.

Security concerns from the top down

President Donald Trump has raised concerns about mail-in voting over the years. He added to that log of complaints as recently as August. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS.” He continued to say all other countries have stopped using by-mail voting because of fraud and said the practice favors Democrats. A number of other countries do allow mail-in voting, including Canada, New Zealand and several European countries.

In 2024, a video posted on social media claimed to have caught a “ballot mule” putting multiple ballots in a Lincoln drop box and taking a picture. The idea of ballot mules is a debunked conspiracy. In fact, Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen said security footage showed a young man dropping one ballot in the box. He summed up the person in question as an excited first-time voter taking a selfie.

The widespread fears over election security, including by-mail voting concerns, sparked Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen to publish a fact sheet and send state senators a powerpoint.

Sarpy County-area state Senator Rick Holdcroft introduced LB541 last session. That bill didn’t pass, but it would have required an excuse for people to request an absentee ballot through the mail. In an emailed statement, Sen. Holdcroft said his concern with mail-in voting involves the loss of control over ballots from the time they leave a county office until they’re returned.

“We go to great lengths at the polls to ensure the voter is identified and the ballot is monitored throughout its journey at the polls. None of those measures are followed for mail-in ballots. The opportunity for fraud is greatly increased,” Sen. Holdcroft said. “Currently, half of Douglas County's ballots are cast by mail. While I certainly support exceptions for military personnel or those who cannot physically travel to the polls, I believe it is part of our duty as citizens of the United States to vote either at the Election Commissioner's office or at the polls where proper identification can be made.”

Geis said voting by mail is secure and carries no partisan slant.

“There are some that question the security of that, but there's no evidence whatsoever that voting by mail is any more or less susceptible necessarily to election fraud than any other form of voting,” Geis said.

Greater anonymity was added to the mail-in voting process recently, he said. Mail-in voting envelopes identified people before.

“The system has been changed from one that would identify who the voter was or what their party affiliation was to one of secrecy,” Geis said.

No one is left in the dark on whether their vote is counted under a website established in the last decade or so, he said.

“Nebraskans can track their ballots clearly via the digital system through the Secretary of State's office,” Geis said. “The post office scans and tracks every ballot on its way from a house eventually to the election commission, and you can go online, plug in your voter information and see exactly where it's at in the process.”

Voter ID requirements, signature verification and ballot tracking add up to an incredibly secure system.

“These systems are — they're robust, and they work,” Geis said.

As for Trump’s comments through the years regarding election security and by-mail voting claims, Geis said “that does not lead to positive outcomes for Nebraskans. It doesn't lead to positive outcomes for Americans.” Those comments are troubling and spark unnecessary fear, he added.

“What I make of those comments is disappointment, frankly, and frustration — is what I take away from that, because they are not based in fact,” Geis said.

At times, Evnen has pushed back on the false narrative that elections are fraudulent, Geis added.

“But at the same time, I'm disappointed he has not pushed back more against President Trump, in this moment,” Geis said, “to ensure Nebraskans that they should have faith, that they can believe in the systems that are in place.”

A spokesperson for Secretary Evnen told Nebraska Public Media News in an email that Nebraska elections are safe and secure.

“Secretary Evnen shares President Trump’s strong interest in election integrity and recognizes that maintaining our high level of election security requires ongoing efforts to stay ahead of bad actors,” the spokesperson said. “Whether elections conducted in other states are as reliable as those in Nebraska is not within Secretary Evnen’s jurisdiction, but he generally supports efforts to ensure that every state’s elections are as reliable as elections in Nebraska.”

The work on the ground

Dixon County moved to an all-mail voting system in 2020 during the pandemic.

“Our turnout has been phenomenal,” said county clerk Cathy Stilwell. “We actually had 86% turnout on our general election in 2024, which normally it's around 60%.”

The county seat is in Ponca, near Ponca State Park and the South Dakota border. The biggest issue Dixon County has experienced is a parent signing their college student’s ballot while away at school. Those ballots don’t get counted.

As for the machines that count votes, there’s misinformation there. They are not hooked up to the internet, Stilwell said.

“It's plugged in the wall with an extension cord,” Stilwell said. “People think they can hack into that. I don't know how they can do that through an electrical outlet, but some people think they can.”

Stilwell said people worry ballots that have to be transported to the courthouse could go missing. She argued mail-in ballots are more secure in that sense, “so if that's a concern, that's not happening with mail-in ballots, because they're all right here in my office.”

Fischer, the Knox County clerk, is gearing up for the primaries from the courthouse. Fischer said don’t fix what’s not broken.

“I realize that the rural population is maybe not as much as it used to be, but there's still people out there that this is working for them,” Fischer said.

Knox County locks envelopes and ballots in a vault, Fischer said.

“And the same thing with the ballot box, we check that numerous, numerous times during the day, and that is secure as well, because that baby's bolted to the floor,” Fischer said. “And again, we have the camera system to help us with that security.”

There haven’t been cases of fraud in Knox County, Fischer added, saying election fraud isn’t happening in Nebraska.

“I feel that maybe it's just more of a misconception, after hearing all of the news of things that happen in other states,” Fischer said. “Nebraska is on the forefront of having voter ID, and I feel that they've implemented a good process.”

The secretary of state has been helpful in guiding counties through weekly to-do lists and new software, she said.

“Our secretary of state's office is so good about getting directions out to us,” Fischer said. “Each week, we get an update as to ‘This is where you should be. This is what needs to be done,’ and they're so helpful if we call them.”

That open line of communication makes it easier for the county clerk’s office to answer questions from voters.

“We always welcome people to call and say, ‘Hey, did you get my ballot? I have some questions,’ or maybe ‘I need a replacement ballot.’ We're right there to help them,” Fischer said.

The clerk’s office also posts on Facebook, trying to meet people where they are.

“We want those questions instead of the rumors at the coffee shop, just call us, we like that. We want to tell you the story,” Fischer said. “I even give them my cell phone. I say, ‘Call me at home. I don't care.’”

The 24-year clerk doesn’t just talk when fielding people’s election security concerns and questions, she invites people in.

“I just tell people, ‘Hey, come in and watch us. Come in. I might put you to work,’” Fischer said. “I've done it.”

Other than its security, by-mail voting has several other positives, Fischer said. The clerk’s office balances and verifies envelopes every day leading up to the election, helping speed up the process.

“We have results maybe a little bit quicker,” she said.

The county has saved a little bit of money as well. Not having to find an American Disabilities Act-compliant polling place or people to work the polls has also been a huge plus, Fischer said.

“With those that have polling places, finding poll workers or if you have to draft them to work,” Fischer said, “that was another thing that was going to happen if we couldn't get them.”

The Santee Sioux Reservation is in Knox County. Voting among Native Americans has increased since the county moved to universal mail voting, Fischer said. One year, construction and the weather made it difficult for Santee Sioux members to vote.

“The main road to the reservation was under construction, and it was raining, it was snowing,” Fischer said, “and they were traveling quite a bit of a detour to get to the polling place. We don't have to worry about that now.”

Not traveling to a polling site was a nice change for seniors and disabled people in the community as well.

“We still hear quite a bit that ‘We're just glad to have that opportunity to vote just at home and take our time, that we didn't have to travel,’” Fischer said.

The ability to research candidates is a reason many people said they support by-mail voting. Voting at home allows kids too young to vote to stay involved in civics, too. Fischer heard that some families will sit down, look at the ballot, talk about the issues and research together.

“The younger kids sat down with a piece of paper and pretended they were voting along with their parents, who were voting there at the kitchen table,” Fischer said. “But they understood what their parents were doing, so I thought that was kind of a neat idea.”

The county clerks in Center and Ponca are working months before the election to ensure everything goes smoothly.

“There's just a number of steps that we take continuously every day, just to ensure that we're doing the best that we can and to show the community that we are here for them,” Stilwell said.

It takes a group effort just to approve the ballots for printing, she said, “but it's always nice to have a successful election and know that it's over.”

By-mail voting has been important for getting future leaders involved in Knox County. More young people are registering to vote and turning in their ballots, Fischer said.

“Now that we're doing by-mail, we're getting those younger people to register to vote,” Fischer said. “They're going to be running our country, and they need to know this as well, and they need to know who represents them and how they are doing it.”

By mail or in-person, Fischer said preparing for the election and counting ballots takes time and attention.

“We work very hard, probably more so than what we maybe need to, but that's because we're concerned about our voters,” Fischer said.