Election Integrity in Nebraska - Conclusion
The 2020 election saw a number of firsts. From private funding given to government election offices, to a coordinated strategy by left-leaning partisans of threatening or filing lawsuits to force last-minute changes to long-established election laws, a taint of corruption was clearly attached to the contest.
Some states are conducting credible investigations into these allegations, and some are ignoring the anomalies altogether. There is a pronounced “red/blue” flavor to every effort. Nebraska officials have not been idle in response to the questions raised by the Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project and others. In Secretary Evnen’s words, he has been studiously “running to ground,” each allegation made and fully recognizes the existence of vulnerabilities in our state, many of which are the focus of legislation he’s personally raised with legislators.
Four bills introduced to the Unicameral this session, if passed, would go a long way toward ameliorating if not eliminating many of the vulnerabilities NVAP has noted. LB785, would limit the number of days for early voting and ban the practice of ballot harvesting. LB858 would prohibit groups or individuals from inserting private funds like Zuckerbucks into the conduct of public elections and LB1263 would ensure the security and use of ballot drop boxes.
NVAP has called for elections to be “Audited and Obviated, or simply Obviated.” They want a full forensic audit similar to that done in Arizona’s Maricopa County. Failing the decertification of the 2020 election, they plan to put up a referendum that “will do it for the next election and the 2020 election simultaneously – this would boot all of our Nebraska politicians – executive and legislative – OUT until after a redone election with manual count ballots.”
The ultimate goal of NVAP is the removal of all machines from our elections and a return to “manual count ballots forever in Nebraska.”
According to numerous experts, while the NVAP idea has nostalgic appeal, it fails to acknowledge that manual counts are inherently vulnerable to many forms of manipulation. Intimidating or bribing poll workers and election judges was a hallmark of political machine corruption. Political “bosses” would stack the canvassing board with allies, who would then recruit canvassers and other election workers who could be relied on to facilitate fraud, or at least look the other way.
Omaha itself has a dark and storied history of this during the days of “Boss” Tom Dennison in the early 20th century. Dennison was a political boss who was famous for manipulating votes to protect his illicit empire. Connected to syndicates in Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis and other cities, Dennison controlled Nebraska politics for over three decades.
One of his famous sayings was, “There are so many laws that people are either law breakers or hypocrites. For my part, I hate a damn hypocrite.”
The bulk of NVAP allegations rest on an assumption of corruption within ES&S, and among elements of the Election Assistance Commission and the election division of the Department of Homeland Security. Claims of algorithmic interference in Nebraska’s election appear to presuppose the existence of access gateways of which ES&S would certainly be aware.
The first assertion that alerted this reporter to the issues raised by NVAP was their claim that voter turnout by age group was essentially identical, within one or two points, across all 93 of Nebraska’s counties. This would mean the same percentage of 20-year-olds that voted in Douglas County would be mirrored for example in Deuel County, Holt or Cherry counties. This was said to apply to all age cohorts across all counties.
Clearly, such an anomaly would be impossible without a manipulation of the vote counts, evidencing significant, ubiquitous fraud.
However, the Secretary of State examined this claim and provided NSN with a graphic representation of turnout for three selected age samples across all counties. The graph illustrates the turnout percentage for 22-year-olds, 44-year-olds, and 66-year-olds. As the graphic clearly shows, the claimed mirroring of turnout percentages among all counties simply is not there.
Mistrust of government is endemic to the United States of America. It is part of who we are, but in this instance two groups who should be allied, the NVAP and the office of the Secretary of State, have reached an impasse. Both want honesty and integrity in our government and in our elections, but both believe they have the answer. They just don’t agree on what that is.