Omaha postal workers are defending the integrity of mail-in voting ahead of the November election, as their national union begins airing a new TV ad in Omaha.
The American Postal Workers Union, which represents about 200,000 U.S. Postal Service employees, is running a 30-second ad featuring voters explaining why they choose to vote by mail. The ad ends with the message, “Vote by mail – keep it, protect it, expand it.”
David Rose, president of APWU Omaha Area Local 11, said Nebraskans need the option to vote by mail because not everyone is able to vote in person.
“You get to do it in person. You get to do it by mail,” Rose said. “Not everybody has the availability to go in and vote on the day of election. So that’s why we’re running these ads for vote by mail.”
Rose said mail ballots get special handling once they enter the Omaha mail stream.
“When mail-in ballots come in, they’re marked as election mail or ballot mail. And so they get treated differently, they get moved to the front of the line,” Rose said.
Each shift also has a designated ballot monitor, Rose said, who checks “every nook and cranny” of the mail facility for ballots that may have been misplaced or set aside.
“I know for a fact that I’ve watched managers, supervisors go out above and beyond to make sure a person gets a ballot, gets it returned, and gets it to the election office by 8 p.m. on Election Day. I’ve seen that personally,” Rose said.
According to the union, about 1 in 4 Nebraska voters cast a mail ballot in the 2024 general election, and 11 Nebraska counties with fewer than 10,000 residents conduct their elections entirely by mail. Nebraska allows any registered voter to request a mail ballot without an excuse.
Rose said he hasn’t heard complaints about mail voting. His household votes by mail, and he said his wife recently convinced a couple of her co-workers to do the same.
“Actually, I have not heard any complaints about vote by mail or any ballots through the mail system,” Rose said. “It is very, very reliable, very safe. Very effective.”
Mail ballots in Nebraska must reach the county election office by the time polls close on Election Day, and voters must pay their own return postage. Rose’s advice is not to wait.
“I would suggest earlier is better,” he said.
The union’s campaign follows months of legal fights over President Donald Trump’s March executive order aimed at restricting mail voting. On Sept. 14, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Postal Service from imposing new restrictions on mail ballots for the midterms. However, the court did not rule on whether the restrictions are ultimately legal. The administration had argued the restrictions were needed to guard against voter fraud.
In Nebraska, Scott Petersen, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, told Nebraska Public Media News that he believes the state’s 35-day mail-in ballot period “corrupts elections, especially in Omaha and Lincoln.” Petersen that if he’s elected, he would propose reestablishing in-person voting for the 11 mail-in-only counties.
Rose said the national debate hasn’t changed the work in Omaha.
“For us, locally, it really has never been an issue because we just move the mail. What goes on in D.C. is above our pay grade,” Rose said.