Nebraska Secretary of State to testify about election security before Senate committee

LINCOLN — Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen is scheduled to testify Tuesday about election security before a U.S. Senate committee.

The U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee, of which U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., is the ranking member, will take testimony from five election officials beginning at 2 p.m. CDT. The session will be livestreamed via the committee’s website.

Evnen, according to a press release from his office, will discuss the audit Nebraska election officials conducted following November’s election, along with challenges to election security.

The voter ID initiative approved by Nebraska voters is also expected to come up.

Evnen has pushed back on criticism from some fellow Republicans about the vote-counting machines used by the state, saying that a post-election audit found they were “reliable and accurate.” The audit, which utilized hand counts, found an error rate of roughly 0.02%.

Others invited to testify are New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, South Carolina State Election Commission Executive Director Howard Knapp, Durham County (North Carolina) Director of Elections Derek Bowens and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Co-Director Marcia Johnson-Blanco.