Nonpartisan voters must request ballots

The Nebraska Democratic and Libertarian political parties have once again opened their ballots for the May 10 primary election to allow nonpartisan voters to vote for their party candidates who are running for a partisan office, according to a news release from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.
Nonpartisan voters must request the ballots at their respective polling locations.
Thayer County Clerk Marie Rauner said workers at polling locations are not required to tell nonpartisan voters they must request the party ballots.
“It’s up to the voters to be informed,” Rauner said.
The state’s republican party had not opened its ballot for the primary as of Monday.  
County offices will mail early voting ballots April 4. Early voting begins April 11 at county election offices.
As of March 25, Secretary of State John Gale said 1,161,207 Nebraskans are registered to vote.
He is predicting that number to climb because of the presidential race, open legislative seats and the vote to decide the future of the state’s death penalty.
Rauner said early voter registration is down in Thayer County.
“Normally, we would have three or four times the early voter requests than what we have now,” Rauner said. “Requests are down considerably.”