Area residents should all have their ballots in hand by now
HARTINGTON — Every registered voter in Cedar County should now have a ballot in their hands.
Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling said he mailed out ballots to all 5,570 registered voters in the county on April 22.
This will be the first time the all-mail system has been used for the entire county in a primary election. Cedar County began experimenting with the system in 2010 when Dowling closed polling places in three precincts and instead mailed ballots to all registered voters in those precincts.
Since then more and more polling places have been closed as more precincts were switched to all-mail status.
Dowling said the all-mail system is not only safer in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, but is much faster, as well. He expects to have results shortly after the polls close across the state.
Cedar County is just one of 11 counties in Nebraska that uses the all-mail system for voting. Dixon and Knox counties are now using the all-mail system, as well.
Anyone that has not yet registered to vote has a few days to do so as May 1 is the final day to register to vote. Dowling said an online voter registration can be downloaded from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s website but be returned to the Cedar County Courthouse no later than May 1. The best way to ensure the registration gets returned in time is to use the dropbox outside of the north side door at the courthouse, he said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, counties that don’t presently use the all-mail system, are processing quite a few voter requests this year for a ballot to be mailed out to them.
Secretary of State Bob Evenen has said he expects a record turn out because of the requests to mail out ballots.
Madison County Clerk Anne Pruss said her office has already processed a record of nearly 7,000 mail request ballots as of last week.
Many local and state officials have urged people to vote by mail because voting from home is the safest way to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.