Tuesday, May 9th, is Omaha’s general election, and Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse, says Omaha’s Mayoral race has been called “nationalized,” for the first time.
He points to the surrogates’ visits -- Bernie Sanders for Heath Mello and Scott Walker for Jean Stothert -- as well as coverage on two national morning talk shows recently. Kruse says it is hard to say what, if any, impact the surrogates and the national attention may have on voter turnout.
“I think we just don’t have the answer because this is the first time in recent memory that we’ve had this kind of outside national help for our candidates. Now I think it’s important to keep in mind that some of those national issues, such as maybe pro-life/pro-choice, or taxes on a national level, don’t necessarily have the effect on people’s everyday lives that the local candidate can control.”
In-person voting is going on now at the Douglas County Election Commission office at 225 N. 115th Street, Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5 p.m., except tomorrow night, the 28th, when they will be open until 6 p.m.
April 28th at 6 p.m. is the deadline for both registering to vote in person and requesting a mail-in ballot.
Kruse says they will also be open for in-person voting on Saturday, May 6th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information, the website is votedouglascounty.com.