Early voting applications being sent to all Nebraskans

Registered voters in Perkins County will receive an early ballot application in the mail for the Nov. 3 General Election.

Secretary of State Bob Evnen said in a release last week that he has decided all registered voters in Nebraska should receive early ballot applications in the mail.

 Some counties have already mailed applications. Perkins County has not.

 County Clerk Rita Long said the secretary of state’s office will do the mailing for Perkins County. Evnen said his office will begin mailing applications on Sept. 8.

For the May primary, Long mailed early ballot applications to all registered voters in the county. Due to concerns about exposure to COVID-19, many Perkins County voters took advantage of early voting. 

Of the 892 voters who cast ballots in May, 737 of them opted to use early ballots that were either mailed back or dropped off at the courthouse. 

“For voters who have

concerns about voting at the polls in November, an early ballot request for a mail-in ballot is a good option,” Evnen said. “Anyone who wishes to vote early should

request their ballot as soon as possible.”

Long said she can begin mailing official ballots on Monday. Sept. 28.

 Those wishing to vote early in-person at the courthouse can do so beginning Monday, Oct. 5 through close of business Monday, Nov. 2.

Voters wanting an early ballot mailed must make the request by Friday, Oct. 23. Evnen said the post office is recommending that voters mail their ballots by Tuesday, Oct. 27 to ensure they will arrive in time. 

Early ballots must be returned to Long’s office by 7 p.m. Nov. 3 to be counted. 

She said they can be mailed, put in the dropbox outside of the west door of the courthouse, or brought directly to her office. 

School board race

Long said three individuals have picked up petition materials in an attempt to place their name on the Nov. 3 ballot for Perkins County Schools board of education.

Those individuals have until Sept 1. to collect signatures to get their name printed on the ballot. 

The petitions must contain at least 188 verified signatures of registered voters for their name to appear.

Long explained the 188-signature threshold represents 20% of the votes the highest vote-getter received in the last election, which was 939.

Three people have already filed affidavits as write-in candidates. 

They include Janet Lagler, Richard Thurin and Aaron Uehling. 

As a write-in candidate, their names do not appear on the ballot. Voters must then “write in” the respective candidate’s name to cast a vote for that candidate.

Correction

This was incorrectly reported in the Aug. 12 election story. 

The story indicated Lagler, Thurin and Uehling had collected the needed petition signatures for their names to appear on the ballot. That was incorrect. 

At that time, all three had only filed affidavits as write-in candidates.