Editorial, 7/28: Election fraud claims in Nebraska about future more than past

That was the message delivered to the Lancaster County Board last week by a pair of election officials called in to respond to ongoing testimony from those convinced of rampant election fraud three years ago.

Those complainants, many from the Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project, have, for weeks, used the board’s public comment period to allege various election fraud conspiracies, from ballot stuffing to problems with voting machines, which they believe tainted the outcome of the state’s 2022 election.

Is there any evidence that would convince them otherwise?

Manual audits were conducted on 10% of precincts statewide, with at least one precinct in every county given an audit. Of the 48,292 ballots that were hand counted, just 11 had ballot discrepancies.

Before every election, each county does three test runs of voting machines, holds two mock elections and runs one statewide test. None of those machines are connected to the internet — eliminating many of the fraud contentions.

The results from each machine are transferred via a military-encrypted USB drive to another computer to compile the results, which are then double-checked against the voting machine before they are made public, ensuring an accurate count.

Reports that voters received multiple mail-in ballots have never been verified. No election commission has reported that voters returned ballots saying they’ve gotten more than one.

And the contention that some 4,500 additional votes being cast than voter history indicated is based on outdated voter history reports that do not provide a valid comparison with last year’s vote.

“What we’ve seen over the course of the last four years is that use of social media and misinformation and information not properly vetted and data not properly vetted have poisoned the well as to the integrity of our elections,” Wayne Bena, deputy secretary of state for elections, told the board.

Poisoning the election well is, in fact, the aim of those who continue to press claims of election fraud three years ago, an effort aimed less at changing the 2020 outcome, which would be impossible, than setting up similar claims up to a “stolen election” in 2024 — in case their chosen candidates, most prominently Donald Trump, loses next year

The 2024 general election is 16 months away. It wouldn’t be shocking if the election fraud testimony to the board continues until then, perhaps intensifying after the May primary.

The complainants are unlikely to be any more satisfied with the truth presented by Bena and Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen than they have been with similar explanations made repeatedly for nearly three years.

But the facts presented by Bena and Wiltgen should reassure Nebraskans that the state’s elections have been and will be fair, free of fraud and represent the voters’ will.