Platte County is too large to use only mailed ballots during regular elections, but the county has taken advantage of an exception allowing them to mail Platte Center voters ballots in a special election on a new sales tax. But, the exception would become the rule if Election Commissioner Diane Olmer gets her way. During the Platte County Board of Supervisors regular meeting Wednesday, Olmer presented a letter to the supervisors addressed to District 22 Sen. Paul Schumacher urging him to work to revise a provision that bars counties with more than 10,000 residents from collecting only mailed ballots during general and primary elections. The letter asks the legislator to introduce a bill that raises or eliminates the population cap.
With a revised population rule, Olmer said the county could issue mail-in ballots to any of its precincts. Specifically, she said her office would look at eliminating polling stations for Joliet Township’s 109 voters, a labor reduction that could save the office about $200.
If the legislation doesn’t change, Olmer said she could possibly merge the Joliet precinct with a neighboring one, but added this could create more errors than it’s worth.
If the legislation did change, the commissioner would have the option of collecting mailed ballots in all the county’s precincts during any election. These precincts would vote by mail exclusively until otherwise stated by the election commissioner or Nebraska secretary of state.
Full Article: Mail-only election expansion sought.