ELECTION 2024: Douglas County officials assure public elections are safe

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - 31 days away from the 2024 Presidential Election, and there are still people who claim the 2020 Election was rigged.

Here in Douglas County, election officials once again stress that all elections are still fair and secure, though there are still some who don’t believe the election is fair.

Earlier in the week, Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse stood before Douglas County Commissioners and told them that elections in Douglas County, Nebraska have always been safe, secure, and transparent, and steps have been taken to make improvements to the process.

“By-mail voting in Douglas County in Nebraska is safe, it’s secure, and, it’s accurate, and it’s fair,” Kruse said. “We check the signatures, and now the voter ID component on that.”

Kruse told commissioners the County Election Office itself is safe and secure, and so are the drop boxes across the county.

“We’ve got 39 cameras at our location, and then the 13 cameras on the drop boxes, so we have 52 cameras that are monitored just for the Election Commission alone,” Kruse said. “We have controlled access, the swipe cards to get in where ballots are, like the counting room, and he vault is double identification with a pin pad... and on election day the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department is an extremely valuable partner of ours, they always place deputies at our office during the day.”

Kruse also pointed out that County Elections are audited by the state. However, with all the safety procedures in place, and the state’s new Voter ID law, there are some who still believe the last election was rigged, and the upcoming election could be unfair.

“We do not have to accept his word, or your word, as the absolute truth... you can be wrong, he can be wrong,” Storer said. “Please, go listen to the national experts, starting with maybe Mike Lindell.”

Larry Storer is a regular citizen speaker at Omaha City Council and Douglas County Commissioner meetings.

“Without a doubt, a preponderance of American citizens that think there is something wrong with that last election, and previous elections,” Storer said. “We no longer trust our government, and we would like to think could indict our government, as per the Declaration of Independence. I want to tell you I’m speaking not only for myself, but what I consider is ‘We the People’ of the United States.”

Commissioners on both sides of the political aisle were quick to come to the defense of the County’s election commissioner and the election process in Douglas County.

“There was no fraud in 2020, and based on what we heard today particular in Omaha, Nebraska; Douglas, County, we’ve actually stepped up surveillance now we require folks to present ID,” Douglas County Commissioner James Cavanaugh said.

“I really do hope that this fear-mongering, and lies, and dangerous rhetoric for our election workers stops right now,” Douglas County Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson said.

There has been no evidence of large-scale nationwide cheating in the last election, or here in Douglas County.

“I just hope that all of the… stuff, I wont use the word I really want to use, stuff stops and that our election workers can do the job that they volunteered to step forward and do, and we thank them for that,” Borgeson said.

Kruse also added that Douglas County prints its own ballots, adding an extra layer of security, and saving taxpayers millions of dollars over the years.

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