The number of early elections in Lincoln County exceeds previous election years

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (BUTTON) – Early election turnout is outpacing other election years in Lincoln County. District secretary Becky Rossell said the area has already surpassed previous record years.

“In 2008 and 2012 we had about 4,000 early voters, so we’ve surpassed that by almost 1,000 this time. It’s been a while since we’ve had such a big turnout,” Rossell said.

About 5,200 people cast their votes at the beginning of this year, 2,000 of them in person. More than 3,000 ballots have been mailed out. The county is still waiting for approximately 580 ballots. Rossell suspects the county’s results will be counted around midnight on election night.

“We’re going to have to count more ballots, and that’s a good thing. Our goal is to update every 60 to 90 minutes, so that you know where we stand. All early ballots will be pretty much counted for the most part before I release the results at 8 p.m., those will be the early voting numbers,” Rossell said.

Rossell wants to remind voters how important it is to be informed about the initiatives they are voting on.

“One thing for Election Day for the people going to the polls: there are a lot of initiatives on the ballot this time, make sure you read those in advance. We’ve noticed that a lot of people, even those who have been mailed in, have messed up the ballots this time because people don’t read the ballots quite right and then want to go back and change them. So as far as initiatives go, make sure you read them before you go to the polls on Election Day,” Rossell said.

Stay tuned to News 2 next week on Election Day for all your election updates.

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