The hard work by the Nebraska Democratic Party’s Coordinated Campaign, its allies, county parties and candidates across the state to increase Democratic turnout in the Nov. 6 election is paying huge dividends.
With Friday’s Vote-by-Mail application deadline, we’ve already seen an increase of 37% in applications submitted by Democrats over the 2014 Midterm election in Nebraska.
Other examples of Democratic enthusiasm include:
During one recent period (Sept. 30-Oct. 17), 4,157 new Nebraska voters registered as Democrats– some 65 percent of all the people statewide who registered to vote during that time.
During that period, 6,353 people registered to vote. In addition to the Democrats, another 1,433 registered as nonpartisans, 638 registered as Republicans and 125 registered with other parties.
Through Oct. 24, Nebraska Democrats had requested 61,884 Vote-by-Mail ballots. There were 18,882 requests from nonpartisans, 70,713 from Republicans and 763 from voters affiliated with other parties.
For the first time, the NDP created Voter Guides listing all the Democratic candidates in each of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Those were mailed to each Democratic household in Nebraska and also are listed in the Party’s voting center.
In addition, the NDP mailed and distributed at the doors some 200,000 Vote-by-Mail applications to potential voters across Nebraska and enlisted 550 volunteer “Block Captains” to encourage people to vote in the Nov. 6 election.
“I’m proud that people are responding to our efforts to further build our party and hearing our message to become engaged in the process to help get as many of our 850 Democratic candidates elected — in races from the U.S. Senate to statewide offices and legislative seats to scores of local races, ” said NDP Chair Jane Kleeb.
Looking back on the May Primary Election, other indicators of increased Democratic turnout:
— There was a 73% increase (a total of 31,000) in Democratic VBM ballot requests over the 2014 Midterm Election, the last midterm in which there was both a United States Senate seat and a Governor seat in play. The GOP, by comparison, saw only a 14% increase from 2014.
— There was a 97.8% increase — almost double — in Democratic VBM ballot returns this election cycle. Democrats returned 11,876 VBM ballots in 2014, compared to 23,489 VBM ballots in 2018.
— Statewide Democratic turnout in the 2018 primary election increased by 18% from 2014, while GOP turnout dropped 25%.
“We are in this to win — and thankful that Democrats are responding with their votes and time to elect strong candidates,” Kleeb said.
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