For 11 of Nebraska’s smallest counties, voting by mail is not simply an alternative to visiting a polling place. It is the way elections are administered.
Since 2005, Nebraska counties with fewer than 10,000 residents have been allowed to conduct elections entirely by mail. The system has reduced the cost of opening polling places and hiring election workers in communities where voters may live many miles from the county seat.
Now, that system is facing a proposed change. Scott Petersen, the Republican nominee for Nebraska secretary of state, has called for establishing in-person voting in counties that automatically mail ballots to registered voters. Petersen defeated incumbent Bob Evnen in the Republican primary in May and has argued that technology could help make polling places available to rural voters without requiring counties to continue all-mail elections.
Eleven counties use all-mail elections
The counties that have chosen the all-mail option are Boone, Cedar, Cherry, Clay, Dawes, Dixon, Garden, Knox, Merrick, Morrill and Stanton. Each has fewer than 10,000 residents, according to the election system described by Flatwater Free Press and Votebeat.
Candace Panas, the Morrill County election commissioner, said the county’s budget does not cover the expense of returning to polling places. That would require the county to arrange locations, obtain equipment and hire poll workers for elections that are now administered through mailed ballots.
“I don’t have the money in my budget to turn around and get all my polls in order and all the equipment and things I would have to get to do that. There’s just no way my budget would allow me to do that.” — Candace Panas, Morrill County election commissioner
Under the current system, ballots are sent automatically to registered voters in the participating counties. Voters can return their ballots by mail or through other county-authorized methods. The arrangement has become part of routine election administration in counties spread across the state, including the Panhandle and northeast Nebraska.
Turnout has been higher in the participating counties
The 11 counties have also recorded higher turnout than Nebraska as a whole in recent elections. In the 2022 midterm election, turnout in the counties averaged about 69%, compared with 55% statewide.
The counties have generally supported Republican presidential candidates by wide margins. In the 2024 election, the share of voters supporting President Donald Trump ranged from 71% in Dawes County to 90% in Cherry County.
- Eleven Nebraska counties conduct elections entirely by mail under a law allowing the practice in counties with fewer than 10,000 residents.
- Morrill County’s election commissioner said the county cannot afford the equipment, polling places and workers needed to restore in-person voting.
- The counties averaged about 69% turnout in the 2022 midterm election, compared with 55% statewide.
The debate comes as President Donald Trump pushes for restrictions on mail voting nationwide. In Nebraska, any change to the all-mail system would affect counties that have used it for more than two decades and have built their election budgets around it.
