OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Americans are encouraged to do their duty and vote on Election Day . But in Nebraska, some residents must go a step further: They are required to help run the elections.
Nebraska is the only state in the U.S. that employs compulsory election duty to recruit precinct poll workers, election office helpers and ballot deliverers, among other tasks, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Anyone who ignores a summons could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor and fined up to $100. Twenty years ago, Dawn O'Brien was busy teaching and shuttling kids to school and practice when she received a letter telling her she'd been selected for election duty. She had lived in Omaha for about 25 years by then and had never heard of mandatory election duty.
“I was surprised,” she recalled. “I do remember thinking, ‘Boy, how am I going to juggle this?’” But like a lot of Nebraska residents drafted into the job, O'Brien ended up with a new appreciation for civic service. She now volunteers to work most elections.
“I just learned so much about what it takes to pull off free, fair elections,” she said. “It is a massive effort to do this and to do it right.” So far, only Douglas and Sarpy counties — among the state’s most populous in the Omaha metro area — use the draft.
That's because with nearly 500,000 of the state’s 1.25 million registered voters in those two counties, they need thousands of workers to help at hundreds of polli.
