the games our ne sos office plays

Dear Friends,

Sharing a little story here. Tell me if it makes sense or not.

Federal law states (read the bold type only for ease of understanding):

”Every officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of any general, special, or primary election of which candidates [federal office] are voted for, all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election . . .
§20701. Retention and preservation of records and papers by officers of elections; deposit with custodian; penalty for violation

It stands to reason (at least in my mind) that documenting who votes in a given election is an “act requisite to voting” that must be retained and preserved for the 22 months. What sense is there in keeping any election documents from a given election for any amount of time if we are not going to keep a record of who voted??

So I filed a Public Records Request with the Secretary’s office for a list of everyone who voted in the recent primary. (Just another attempt to hold them accountable and/or expose their malfeasance. Mind you, I wouldn’t expect every name on the list to be legit, but that’s beside the point here.)

The Secretary’s office responded by saying, more or less, that I could extract that list from the voter history column in the voter file (which isn’t true, please keep reading).

I was waiting for that response, so I could remind them of the foot-in-mouth disease they suffer from. Last summer, Deputy Secretary Wayne Bena said the voter file was “a living, breathing document” that changes “every day.” Listen HERE for five seconds.

How in the world do I extract the requisite list from “a living, breathing document” that changes “every day,” especially when they only give us access to it once a month??

But more importantly, how do they meet the requirement that a requisite record be retained and preserved for 22 months, with a “living, breathing document”?? For the record to be retained and preserved, it must be a static/fixed record!

Obviously, I’m trying to force them to give me the list so I can prove that their election checkbook (# of voters vs # of votes) doesn’t reconcile.

Obviously, they don’t want to give me that opportunity.

Obviously, the fact they haven’t been keeping such an obvious list demonstrates how corrupt they are.

the history of this particular request
I made the same request to my local Lancaster County Election Commissioner two years ago. That Commissioner, Dave Shively, has since retired. But before he retired, I had him on the phone. His voice was quivering, for obvious reasons. He said he couldn’t produce the list. He said he contacted the SoS office and they couldn’t produce the list, and they had never required him to produce it, either. What??

Of course, that information became ammo for trolling and exposing our election offices for their mismanagement ever since.

But I still want the list. It should be standard operating procedure (SOP)!

So I continue to push. Below is my latest volley (sent yesterday) in an ongoing attempt to hold a despicable SoS office accountable:

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Subject: Public Records Request

Ashlee–

The office you work for is playing games.

Bena is on record as saying, "[A]s we all know, the voter file is a living, breathing document..." (Listen/see here.)

A living, breathing document is the antithesis of a requisite record associated with a given federal election that must be retained and preserved for 22 months. Such a record must be static/fixed.

Let's try this one more time. I have slightly modified the request.

Federal law requires the retention and preservation of all records requisite to a given federal election, for 22 months. It goes without saying that a list of everyone who voted in the May 14th federal election is such a requisite record that must be retained and preserved. 
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section20701&num=0&edition=prelim

I am therefore hereby requesting, pursuant to Nebraska Public Records Law § 84-712 et seq., the following: 

—a digital copy of the STATIC/FIXED record/file identifying EVERYONE who voted in Nebraska's May 14th, 2024 statewide federal election primary that must be retained and preserved for 22 months

Robert J. Borer

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That’s it.

Peace and God bless.