When Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse tells election officials from other states how votes are counted in Nebraska’s largest county, the responses vary. “Oh, that’s painful,” is one response. “How long did you work?” is another. “We like to say, ‘Well, 26 hours, but we loved every minute of it,’” Kruse told members of the Nebraska Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee during a hearing Thursday. In Douglas County, all of the ballots are brought to a central location and tallied. Kruse compared that with Birmingham, Alabama, where votes on election night are tallied at the precincts and results are reported in about four hours.
“There is no jurisdiction in the United States that is even close to the size of Douglas County that does central count,” Kruse said. “It’s all precinct-level count.”
… State Sen. John Murante of Gretna said that despite the state’s major budget shortfall, it needs to invest in updating its election technology.
Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha said he’s in agreement with Murante. “There is a time that we as a state have to work with local commissioners to update the technology,” Wayne said. “We are extremely behind.”
Full Article: Election technology in Nebraska is ‘extremely behind,’ senator says | Legislature | omaha.com.