Today is election day: Remember to go vote!
Scott Stewart
Issue date: 11/4/08 Section: News
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Now Election Day is finally here.
Although Nebraska offered early voting this year, Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale expects a 72 percent voter turnout today - a total of 833,000 voters out of 1,157,034 registered voters.
For perspective, the 2004 election attracted 68.3 percent of voters, for a total of 792,827 ballots counted. Nebraska's highest turnout ever was in the 1968 election, when 80.8 percent of voters went to the polls.
"A historic presidential race is driving much of the interest in this election," Gale said. "However, we also have a number of highly visible races and issues in the state that will contribute to a high turnout."
Since this election is the first experience many UNO students will have going to the polls, unless they participated in the statewide primary earlier this year, here is what you need to know to make sure your voice is heard:
- Remember polling times. In Nebraska, polls open at 8 a.m. Central Standard Time and run until 8 p.m. Central Standard Time. In Iowa, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. In both states, any voters still in line when polls close must be allowed to vote.
- Find your polling place. Nebraska residents can check their polling place by visiting https://www.votercheck.necvr.ne.gov or by referring to voter registration cards. Iowa residents can check online at http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/VoterReg/PollingPlace. Links are also available on The Gateway's Web site, unogateway.com.
- Be prepared. Review the ballot in advance so you don't delay others while voting. Sample ballots are available on the Nebraska Secretary of State's Web site at http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/2008/sampleballots.
- Avoid peak times. Polling places tend to be busiest during early morning, lunch time and late afternoon after people get off work. To cut down on your wait time, try to vote during non-peak hours.
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