More than 25 percent already voted

CENTER — Of the 2022 primary election ballots sent out by the Knox County Clerk’s Office, nearly onefourth of them have been returned so far.

County Clerk Joann Fischer noted as of Monday, there have been 1,480 ballots accepted by her office in Center, which is about 27 percent of the 5,345 ballots mailed April 20.

“Of the ballots returned, 81 percent of the ballots were returned by mail,” she said. “A number of people brought their ballots to the clerk’s office or used the drop box when they were paying taxes or filing personal property schedules.”

Fischer reminded registered Knox County voters all ballots must be to the county clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on May 10 to count in the election results.

“We will be working with the local post offices to pick up ballots that come into the post offices on Election Day in case someone sends them in at the last minute,” she said. “Any ballots received after 8 p.m. on May 10, 2022, will not be counted.”

Fischer said all of the unofficial election results should be available around 8:30 p.m. on May 10.

Results of the election can be found May 10 on the Wausa Gazette website — www.northeastnebraskanews.us.

Fischer described the work her office performs to get the results added up for an election.

“Each day, we have logged ballots returned and balanced to be sure we have entered these numbers into the system correctly,” she said. “Many reports are ran daily to balance.

“The ballot envelopes containing the ballots have been placed daily in locked ballot boxes in our locked vault,” she said.

The county’s counting board will convene on May 5 to begin preparing ballots to be counted on May 10, with all ballots placed back into locked precinct ballot boxes.

“The voter’s ballot secrecy is our top priority, so we take extra measures to ensure that,” Fischer said.

On May 10, the county’s counting board and resolution board will convene.

“At 1 p.m., the locked ballot boxes will be moved to the scanner and ballots will be run through the scanner at that time with the results saved,” Fischer said.

“No results will be given out to the public at that time,” she said. “Counted ballots are placed in sealed boxes and moved back to the vault.”

Fischer said all seal numbers are recorded.

“The ballots received after 1 p.m. up to 8 p.m. will be counted after 8 p.m. and results added to the first batch,” she said. “Many reports have to be run from the scanner and at that time reports to the public will be available.”

Fischer explained the unofficial election results are placed on a secured drive, taken to a standalone computer and entered into a program to prepare the reports for the state.