Thousands of ballots received for primary

HARTINGTON – With just under a week until election day, nearly 25 percent of Cedar County’s eligible voters have already cast ballots.

Cedar County Clerk Jessica Schmit said she mailed out 5,500 ballots on April 24. As of Tuesday morning, more than 1,700 ballots had been returned.

The ballots must be in the County Clerk’s office no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday May 14 to be counted.

The voting process is a little different this year with the new Voter ID law in place.

Voters have two photo ID options when voting by mail, Schmit said.

The first option is writing a driver’s license or state ID number under the envelope flap in the voter ID section. The privacy flap will shield ID information making it visible to the county election office only.

The second option is photocopying an ID and inserting that photocopy into the ballot return envelope along with the ballot.

Voters only need to do one or the other — write their ID number or send a photocopy of the ID — not both, Schmit said.

Acceptable IDs include a Nebraska driver’s license; Nebraska state ID; U.S. passport; military ID; tribal ID; hospital, assisted-living facility or nursing home record; Nebraska college ID; or a political subdivision ID. IDs must include name and photo. Expired IDs are accepted.

“For people that don’t drive anymore, but still have that old license, this might be a good option,” she said.

If a ballot is returned that is lacking the proper information, it will be set aside and won’t be counted until an approved identification card is provided. Voters have a week following the election to provide ID for the ballot to be counted.

The clerk’s office has already contacted a few voters regarding missing ID but there hasn’t been many issues, Schmit said.

She encourages voters to drop ballots off in person if able.

“It saves the county money,” Schmit said. “If people use the drop box outside the courthouse or hand them to us over the counter.”

With this being her first election as Cedar County Clerk, Schmit said she is “learning a lot.”

“There are just a lot of situations and scenarios that I haven’t seen before, but I think it’s going well so far,” she said.

Retired Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling has been helpful.

“He drops by the office just about every day,” she said, adding Dowling plans to be at the clerk’s office during election night.