Election Websites: Nebraska

Fact Sheet Read time:
Projects: Election Initiatives & Government Performance Project
Election Websites: Nebraska

Return to report home page.

NE BONE2Researchers assessed state election websites for the Pew Center on the States between May-November 2010, using detailed criteria evaluating the content, lookup tools, and usability. Websites may have changed since they were assessed. See methodology (PDF).

Strengths include:

  • Comprehensive information for military and overseas voters, including instructions for completing the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot and a lookup tool to check the status of a submitted ballot.
  • Extensive information about how to register to vote and cast a ballot—with details included in comprehensive FAQs—including eligibility and residency requirements, registration forms and deadlines, instructions on how to complete a ballot, polling place hours, and information about provisional ballots.
  • Voter registration information for those in hospitals and long-term-care facilities, students, and people with disabilities.
  • Lookup tools that allow voters to find out their registration status, provisional ballot status, and polling place information.
  • Polling place locator based on street address, allowing users to find this information regardless of registration status.
  • Complete information about statewide ballot measures, including full texts, summaries, and nonpartisan analyses.
  • Archived election results dating to 2000.
  • Website search function consistently located on every page.

Recommended improvements include:

  • On the home page, offer links in a prominent place to key content, such as registration information and lookup tools.
  • Provide an overview of important dates and deadlines for local elections (33 states offer).
  • Offer candidate information such as e-mail (19 states offer), website (20 offer), and phone (23 offer) contacts; candidate statements (6 offer); and occupations (6 offer).
  • List contact information for state political parties and links to their websites (32 states offer).
  • Link to the Federal Election Commission database of campaign finance reports for congressional candidates (37 states offer).
  • Provide an absentee ballot lookup tool for all voters (29 states offer)—not just those in the military or overseas—and a sample ballot lookup tool (22 offer).
  • Present important information in HTML rather than PDF documents, which are more difficult to read and search online.

Noteworthy Feature: Nebraska's website provides voters with a wealth of archived information, including historical candidate and ballot information, and 10 years of election results.

Initial Quick Fix: Add links to campaign finance information for state candidates (48 states offer) that is available on the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission's website.

Summary: Nebraska's website offers three out of five recommended lookup tools and scores well for providing exceptional voting information content.

www.sos.state.ne.us was assessed for content and lookup tools.

www.sos.ne.gov/dyindex.html was assessed for usability.

America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
RELATED
Tags
Election administration
Projects
Election Initiatives Government Performance Project
Places
Nebraska

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

An adult and a child huddle in front of a laptop computer, their faces lit by the screen, with a room and bright windows behind them.

Article

November 27, 2023 Researchers Share How State Grants Boost Broadband Access
A group of teenagers gather in a park with bikes, their silhouettes in high contrast to the cloudy sky behind them.

Article

November 2, 2023 Insights on Brain Development Can Improve Youth Justice
Five video cameras on tripods stand in a line, with one reporter holding a camera slightly out of focus, all aimed at the same subject.

Article

October 6, 2023 Data-Based Journalism Needed to Advance Youth Justice

MORE FROM PEW

A presentation being given by a businesswoman to a group of participants at a business conference. Four Plan Features Can Boost 'Retirement Readiness'
A large group of people in formal or traditional attire stands together on a stage, with a digital background depicting marine life and the large text “WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.” WTO Needs to Redouble Its Effort on Fishing Subsidies
A man in a winter hat and sunglasses kneels on a rocky shoreline in front of a campfire, holding a metal mug with gloved hands. Behind him, in the water, a motorboat is moored to the shore. Cliffs rise on both sides of the water. Why Newfoundland’s South Coast Fjords Are Sacred
An illustration of a couple holding hands walking away from an outline of houses behind them Pathways to Homeownership: Housing in America
Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics
Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?

Pills illustration
Pills illustration

What Is Antibiotic Resistance—and How Can We Fight It?

Sign up for our four-week email series The Race Against Resistance.
Quick View
Pills illustration

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs,” are a major threat to modern medicine. But how does resistance work, and what can we do to slow the spread? Read personal stories, expert accounts, and more for the answers to those questions in our four-week email series: Slowing Superbugs.