Aaron Sanderford recaps a roller coaster election day in Nebraska including Biden's win in the 2nd district.

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s Republican governor, secretary of state, chief deputy attorney general, treasurer and auditor certified the state’s 2020 election results Monday without the drama seen in several battleground states.

The 5-0 vote certification decided which presidential electors will be needed for the state’s Dec. 14 Electoral College vote. It also finalized all but one natural resources district race, which is headed for a recount because the winner and loser are separated by a single vote.

Nebraska, like Maine, divides its Electoral College vote by congressional district, awarding one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its three congressional districts. The statewide winner secures Nebraska’s two additional electoral votes.

This year, that means outgoing President Donald Trump won four electoral votes, statewide and from the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts. President-elect Joe Biden won one from the Omaha area’s 2nd Congressional District, turning Douglas and western Sarpy County blue.

The Elector: Precious McKesson will cast Nebraska’s 2nd District electoral vote for Biden

Gov. Pete Ricketts, in an interview after the meeting, reiterated his support for Nebraska switching back to awarding all five of its Electoral College votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, an outcome almost certain to award all five to the Republican nominee.

He said he would not request that such legislation be introduced but said he would support it if it crossed his desk. He said it would be “more fair to our voters in the state.”

The lone race still to recount is for the Subdistrict 5 seat on the Wahoo-based Lower Platte North NRD board, with David Lawrence at 9,821 votes and John Hannah at 9,820. Candidates in a handful of other close races signed affidavits accepting their results.

In the end, the noon-hour meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Canvassers was as uneventful as the state’s coronavirus-affected general election, in which mail-in voting was popular, in-person voting was staffed and few polling places were consolidated.

More than 960,000 Nebraskans cast ballots in the 2020 presidential general election, setting an expected record in the total number of votes cast as the state’s population grows.

But doing so during a pandemic and keeping turnout at roughly three out of four registered voters was a point of pride for Secretary of State Bob Evnen and his elections team.

“I think it just goes to the great system we have here in Nebraska,” Ricketts said. “This has all gone very, very well.”

The Secretary of State’s Office and several of the state’s most populous counties made sure every voter received a request form for a ballot by mail, and the state secured masks and disinfectant for in-person voting.

Evnen said after the meeting that his office had received no significant allegations of fraud.Photos: Our best staff images from November 2020

aaron.sanderford@owh.com, 402-444-1135

twitter.com/asanderford

Originally published on omaha.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

Tags

This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Post a comment
Stop watching this discussion.