Nebraska Secretary of State discusses election security and election accuracy in U.S. Senate hearing

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen discussed Tuesday the state’s election operations with the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Secretary Evnen was invited by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer, Ranking Member of the Rules and Administration Committee, to testify on Nebraska’s successful elections last year.

“Nebraska’s 2022 elections were conducted efficiently, accurately, securely and in accordance with law,” Evnen said. “Our election officials across the state did an exemplary job of conducting an accurate and secure election. I would like to take this opportunity this afternoon to express my thanks and gratitude to our friends and neighbors across Nebraska who are the elections officials who conducted outstanding elections for our citizens in 2022.”

Secretary Evnen reviewed the audit the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office conducted following the November general election. The audit included ten percent of Nebraska’s precincts statewide. Election officials checked at least one precinct in each of the state’s 93 counties. In all, county election boards hand-counted 48,292 ballots. In total, there were eleven discrepancies discovered. That’s a discrepancy rate of twenty-three thousandths of one percent. Of the eleven ballots where there were discrepancies, five ballots were marked too lightly for the machine to read the ballot. The other six discrepancies were ballots that were misfiled or misplaced.

As for election security, Secretary Evnen highlighted the achievements of Nebraska’s election workers who strive for secure and fair elections. The Elections Division of the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office was awarded the 2019 Election Innovation Award from the National Association of State Elections Directors. Nebraska received this award for the collaboration between Nebraska’s election office, Nebraska’s voter registration database vendor, the Department of Homeland Security and EI-ISAC (Election Infrastructure-Information Sharing and Analysis Center).

Secretary Evnen also discussed the recently approved voter ID measure. “I have supported voter ID for many years. Our state legislature is now working on legislation to implement this new voter ID requirement,” Evnen said. “I am confident that effective legislation will be passed that will carry out Nebraska’s new voter ID constitutional requirement without disenfranchising a legitimate voter.”

Evnen concluded by voicing his support for keeping local control over elections. “Under the U.S. Constitution, elections have been left to the sound discretion of state legislatures. Speaking from my perspective as the Secretary of State of Nebraska, the states ought to remain responsible for the conduct of elections. Issues affecting the conduct of elections can be, and ought to be, resolved by the state legislatures,” Evnen said.