Federal, state, county, city, school board—blah, blah, blah. Enough already. Election season brings information overload, but a new nonpartisan voter guide aims to cut through the noise.
Civic Nebraska, a local nonprofit focused on civic engagement, has teamed up with Georgia-based web service Branch Politics to launch ‘Ballot Builder’ — a simple, free, and unbiased voter guide for the upcoming city elections in Omaha and Lincoln.
By entering an Omaha or Lincoln address at civicnebraska.branch.vote, users will receive a personalized, interactive sample ballot for this year’s primaries and general election. The guide offers a clear, comprehensive view of every race and initiative in both cities, along with nonpartisan candidate biographies and information on their policy positions.
The site is mobile-friendly and doesn’t require account creation. Omaha’s primary is April 1, with Lincoln’s on April 8. The general elections are set for May 13 in Omaha and May 6 in Lincoln.
Disparities in voter turnout between national and local elections drove the creation of this service, says Steve Smith, Communications Director for Civic Nebraska.
“We’re coming off a big national election where we had 75% participation. That’s pretty good. But during local elections, specifically local primaries, you might only get 25% of registered voters to come out,” Smith told KLIN News. “We’re going to challenge that calculus with this tool.”
Smith acknowledges that candidates and ballot issues are, at their core, the main drivers of voter turnout. However, Civic Nebraska hopes Ballot Builder will help residents vote with confidence and avoid skipping over ballot items they may not be familiar with.
In May, Lincoln voters will elect candidates for city council, school board, and airport authority, as well as decide on ballot issues to renew a quarter-cent sales tax for street infrastructure and ban source-of-income discrimination in Lincoln’s housing market.
“This is the first time we’ve done this. We’re going to learn a lot from it. But it is something we want to offer going forward for future state elections and in the midterms in 2026,” said Smith. “I really wish we would have been able to boot it up before [the 2024 general election], it just wasn’t in the cards.”
To use Ballot Builder, visit civicnebraska.branch.vote. Civic Nebraska offers more voter recourses at civicnebraska.org.