//Run for office · Nebraska

How to run for local office in Nebraska

Nebraska's Legislature, school boards, and most city councils are nonpartisan, local races ride the even-year May and November statewide ballots, and the full voter file with history and phones costs $500 a year.

Facts checked against official sources · September 9, 2026

Nebraska is the nonpartisan unicameral state, and the habit runs down-ballot: the Legislature, State Board of Education, school boards, and city councils in Lincoln, Omaha, and commission-plan cities are all elected on nonpartisan ballots (Neb. Rev. Stat. 32-543; 32-544; 32-539; Secretary of State candidate guide). County offices are partisan. Nearly every local office is nominated at the statewide primary on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in May and elected in November of even years (32-401; 32-556), with a fixed filing calendar: incumbents file January 5 to February 15 and everyone else January 5 to March 1 (32-606). Home-rule cities run their own spring cycle; Lincoln votes April 6 and May 4, 2027.

One agency handles campaign finance for every level. You form a committee with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission only once you raise, receive, or spend more than $5,000 in a calendar year, and Nebraska sets no dollar limit on contributions; the law works through disclosure of donors over $250. The voter file is a bargain: $500 buys a year of monthly statewide refreshes with voter history, phone numbers, and party, and county offices sell their own lists capped at 3 cents a name (32-330). Early voting is no-excuse, 30 days in person and 35 by mail before statewide elections, and the county's record of early voters is public before election day (32-948).

Election authority: Nebraska Secretary of State, Elections Division
Voter file: Available for political and election purposes · $500 for the statewide file, paid by cash, check, or money order; one fee and affidavit covers updated copies on request for a full year (Secretary of State voter file page, checked 2026-09-09). Statute caps any list at a price that fairly covers production cost, not to exceed 3 cents per name (32-330).
Campaign finance: FirstTuesday (NADC electronic filing) (Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission)
How voters vote: In person, with no-excuse mail voting
Registration deadline: Mail, DMV, and agent-delivered registrations by the third Friday before the election; in person at the county election office until 6 p.m. on the second Friday before (32-302; Secretary of State). There is no election-day registration.
Local offices: Nonpartisan, with no party shown on the ballot: the Legislature, State Board of Education, Regents, community colleges, natural resources and public power districts, school boards (32-543; 32-544), city councils in commission-plan cities (32-539), and the Lincoln and Omaha councils under their charters. Partisan: county offices, statewide offices, and Congress, with party nominations at the May primary (Secretary of State candidate guide).

Who runs elections in Nebraska

Nebraska Secretary of State, Elections Division Publishes the candidate filing guide, filing forms, and election calendar, files candidates for statewide, legislative, and multi-county district offices, maintains the Nebraska Central Voter Registration System, and sells the statewide voter file. County, city, village, and school board candidates file with their county election office, so for a local race the Secretary of State is your data source and the keeper of the statewide calendar.

The county clerk runs voter registration and elections in most of Nebraska's 93 counties; counties with more than 100,000 people have an election commissioner appointed by the Governor (32-207), and a few smaller counties have one as well (Secretary of State directory). The county election office accepts candidate filings for county, city, village, and school offices (32-607), issues and receives early-voting ballots, keeps the public record of early voters (32-948), and runs the polls. The Secretary of State publishes a directory of every county election official.

Getting the Nebraska voter file

The voter file is the list of every registered voter, with the fields a campaign needs to target: address, party where the state records it, and vote history. In Nebraska it comes from Nebraska Secretary of State (Nebraska Central Voter Registration System file).

Access: Available for political and election purposes
Cost: $500 for the statewide file, paid by cash, check, or money order; one fee and affidavit covers updated copies on request for a full year (Secretary of State voter file page, checked 2026-09-09). Statute caps any list at a price that fairly covers production cost, not to exceed 3 cents per name (32-330).
Format: Electronic data file, one record per registrant; ask the Elections Division for the current layout. Fields are listed in the notes.
Vote history: Included
Phone numbers: Included where on file
Updated: A new statewide file is run on the first day of each month; with a paid affidavit on file you may request the updated file at any time for one year (Secretary of State).

Who can get it: Anyone who completes the Public Service Request Form and signs the voter file affidavit; the Secretary of State asks for a new affidavit and fee once a year. County clerks and election commissioners must also make lists of registered voters available (32-330).

Permitted use: Solely for purposes related to elections, political activities, voter registration, law enforcement, or jury selection. The file may not be posted, displayed, used for commercial purposes, or made accessible on the internet, and anyone who acquires it must report a security breach to the Secretary of State without delay (32-330; Secretary of State).

County option: County clerks and election commissioners must sell lists of registered voters at a price covering production cost, capped at 3 cents per name, and on request a list limited to voters who voted in an election held more than 30 days before the request (32-330(2)). For a single-county race, pair the county file with the county's record of early voters.

Fields in the Secretary of State file: name, residential address, mailing address, phone number, registration status, voter ID, birth year, date of registration, precinct, polling place, party affiliation, district details, and voter history.
Information a voter marked private on the registration form, and records designated confidential under 32-331, are withheld; no list ever includes a voter's digital signature (32-330).
Order by mail or in person from the Elections Division, 301 S. 13th St., Suite 410, Lincoln (P.O. Box 94608, Lincoln, NE 68509-4608; 402-471-2555).

Whatever file you get, Culper imports it as a CSV and maps the columns for you. See how to read a voter file for what the fields mean.

Filing to run for local office in Nebraska

Nebraska uses fixed calendar deadlines rather than windows counted back from election day. For any office on the statewide May primary ballot, incumbents of any elective office file between January 5 and February 15 and everyone else between January 5 and March 1 of the election year (32-606). Nomination is by filing form and fee; no petition is needed. Home-rule charter cities set their own dates for their spring elections.

File with: County, city, village, and school board offices: the election commissioner or county clerk of the county (for a school district in more than one county, the county with the most registered voters entitled to vote for the office); city and village candidates pay the filing fee to the city or village treasurer first (32-607; 32-608). Statewide, legislative, State Board of Education, Regents, community college, natural resources district, public power district, and educational service unit candidates file with the Secretary of State.
Filing fee: 1 percent of the office's annual salary for county, city, and village officers (except mayor and council in home-rule charter cities, which set their own); none for school boards, educational service units, community colleges, natural resources districts, community improvement districts, or sanitary improvement districts; none for any office paying under $500 a year or a per diem; $120 for the Legislature (32-608; Secretary of State 2026 fee schedule). Write-in candidates pay the same fee.
Petition: Not required; you file a candidate filing form (32-606; 32-607). A person who did not file may petition onto the ballot instead, and home-rule charter cities may require a nominating petition or fee for mayor and council (32-537; Secretary of State guide).
Partisan?: Nonpartisan, with no party shown on the ballot: the Legislature, State Board of Education, Regents, community colleges, natural resources and public power districts, school boards (32-543; 32-544), city councils in commission-plan cities (32-539), and the Lincoln and Omaha councils under their charters. Partisan: county offices, statewide offices, and Congress, with party nominations at the May primary (Secretary of State candidate guide).

Filing window: Offices nominated at the May primary: January 5 to February 15 for incumbents of any elective office, January 5 to March 1 for all others (32-606(1)). Offices that appear only on the November general ballot (village boards, township offices, educational service units, small public power districts, reclamation and weed districts): January 5 to July 15 for incumbents and August 1 for others (32-606(2)); a deadline that falls on a weekend moves to the next business day, which is why 2026 showed February 17 and August 3. Filing forms may be faxed if the original and fee are postmarked by the deadline.

Key Nebraska dates
What	When	Note
City of Lincoln primary election, 2027	April 6, 2027	Lincoln's charter cycle (Commission 2027 Lincoln candidate brochure). City filing dates are set by the charter; confirm with the Lancaster County Election Commissioner.
City of Lincoln general election, 2027	May 4, 2027	Mayor, city council, and Lincoln Board of Education seats, which are elected with the council (32-544).
Incumbent filing deadline, offices on the May 2028 primary ballot	February 15, 2028	Filing opens January 5; applies to any current holder of an elective office (32-606(1)).
Non-incumbent filing deadline, offices on the May 2028 primary ballot	March 1, 2028	Covers county, first- and second-class city, school board, Legislature, and district offices (32-606(1)).
Statewide primary election, 2028	May 9, 2028	First Tuesday after the second Monday in May (32-401); nominates local offices and elects those held at the primary.
Filing deadline, general-election-only offices, 2028	August 1, 2028	July 15 for incumbents, August 1 for others (32-606(2)): village boards, townships, ESUs, small public power districts.
Statewide general election, 2028	November 7, 2028	First Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even years (32-403).
Early-ballot request deadline and in-person registration cutoff	Varies	6 p.m. on the second Friday before any election for both (32-941; 32-302); mail and DMV registrations by the third Friday before (Secretary of State).

2027 is a quiet year: only home-rule charter cities such as Lincoln hold city elections in odd years; every other Nebraska local office runs on the 2028 statewide cycle.
A candidate for partisan office cannot change party affiliation after December 5 of the year before the election and still file for the new party (32-612; Secretary of State guide).

Campaign finance rules in Nebraska

State-level campaign finance in Nebraska is overseen by Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission through FirstTuesday (NADC electronic filing).

Where local candidates file: One agency for every level: a candidate for state, county, district, or local office who raises, receives, or expends more than $5,000 in a calendar year, counting the candidate's own money, must register a candidate committee with the Commission by filing a Statement of Organization (Form A-1) with the committee filing fee ($100 for committees registering in the 2026 cycle, $150 for 2027 Lincoln committees, per the Commission's brochures) and then file Campaign Statements (Form B-1) through FirstTuesday or on paper. Below $5,000 there is no committee and nothing to file. City councils, school boards, and county offices have no separate local filing officer.

Contribution limits: Nebraska sets no dollar limit on what an individual, corporation, union, LLC, or PAC may give a candidate; the Political Accountability and Disclosure Act works through disclosure. Contributors of more than $250 in a calendar year are itemized on Form B-1, contributions of $1,000 or more received in the 14 days before an election trigger a Report of Late Contribution (Form B-5), and a business or union that gives or spends more than $250 files its own Form B-7 (Commission). Corporate and union money is legal in Nebraska state and local races.

Reporting: Campaign statements are keyed to each election. For the 2027 Lincoln city election the Commission's calendar sets primary statements due March 8 and March 29, 2027, a pre-general statement April 26, 2027, post-election statements May 17 (candidates eliminated in the primary) or June 14, 2027, and a close-out by January 31, 2028; committees in existence on December 31 file an annual statement by February 1. Committees running in the 2028 statewide cycle follow the Commission's even-year calendar.

Candidates for county office, for mayor or council in Lincoln and Omaha, for the Legislature, and for statewide and public power district offices must file a Statement of Financial Interests (Form C-1) with the Commission by March 1, or their name will not appear on the ballot; most city council and school board candidates do not (Commission).
Expenditures over $250 are itemized on Schedule D, records must be kept five years after dissolution, and late filing fees were doubled by recent legislation (Commission 2027 Lincoln brochure).

Limits and thresholds change. Treat the figures here as a starting point and confirm the current schedule with Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission before you accept a check. Our campaign finance basics guide covers the bookkeeping every local candidate needs on day one.

How voting works in Nebraska

In person, with no-excuse mail voting. Polling-place voting on election day plus no-excuse early voting by mail or in person at the county election office; Nebraska has not required a reason for an early ballot since 1999 (Secretary of State; 32-938; 32-941; 32-942). Photo ID or a reasonable-impediment certification is required for early ballots.

Early voting: In-person early voting at the county clerk or election commissioner's office runs for 30 days before a statewide primary or general election and 15 days before any other election, through the day before the election (32-942; Secretary of State).
Mail ballots: Any registered voter may request a mailed early ballot up to 120 days before and no later than 6 p.m. on the second Friday before the election, giving a Nebraska driver's license or state ID number, a copy of photo ID, or a reasonable-impediment certification (32-941). Ballots are ready 35 days before statewide primaries and generals and 15 days before other elections (32-808), and must arrive at the county office or drop box by the close of polls.
Registration deadline: Mail, DMV, and agent-delivered registrations by the third Friday before the election; in person at the county election office until 6 p.m. on the second Friday before (32-302; Secretary of State). There is no election-day registration.
Same-day registration: No

Knowing who has already voted: The county election office keeps a 'record of early voters' with each applicant's name, residence address, precinct, mailing address, the date the request came in, the date the ballot was sent or picked up, and the date it was voted in person or returned by mail, and that record and the applications are open to public inspection before the election (32-948; birth dates, signatures, and ID numbers are withheld). Ask the election commissioner or clerk for the file on a daily schedule during the 30-day early window. The Secretary of State's file adds voter history on the monthly refresh, and a county can also sell a list limited to voters who voted in an election more than 30 days earlier (32-330(2)).

Local government in Nebraska: what you can run for

Nebraska has 93 counties governed by elected boards of commissioners or supervisors in partisan races, with elections run by the county clerk or, in counties over 100,000, an appointed election commissioner (32-207). Cities are classed by population: metropolitan (Omaha), primary (Lincoln), first class, second class, and villages; Omaha and Lincoln operate under home-rule charters that set council size and election dates (32-537). School districts are Class I through V with boards of five to nine members elected at large or by district (32-543); Lincoln's Class IV board is elected by district at the city election (32-544). Natural resources districts, public power districts, educational service units, community colleges, airport authorities, and sanitary improvement districts all elect boards.

City council member
Mayor
Village board of trustees member
School board member
County commissioner or supervisor
County clerk
County sheriff
County attorney
Educational service unit board member
Natural resources district director
Public power district director
Community college board member
Sanitary improvement district trustee
State senator (Legislature)

When local elections happen: Almost every local office is nominated at the statewide primary on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in May and elected at the November general election in even years, combined on the nonpartisan ballot wherever possible (32-401; 32-403; 32-534; 32-543; 32-556). Villages, townships, ESUs, and some districts appear only on the November ballot (32-606(2)). Home-rule cities follow their charters: Lincoln votes in April and May of odd years, next on April 6 and May 4, 2027.

Running your Nebraska campaign on Culper

Culper does not license voter data in Nebraska today. You upload the Nebraska voter file described above as a CSV, and every feature runs on it: search and lists, plain-English queries, texting and email, block walking, and volunteer coordination. Online donation processing is in development; ask about timing on the onboarding call. Your file stays in your campaign's workspace and is never shared with another campaign.

Set up your Nebraska campaign in an afternoon

Upload the voter file, ask for your first list in plain English, and hand your volunteers the walking app. Signup is open to candidates in every state. Pricing is set after a short call so it matches the size of the race.

Get started Book a demo

Nebraska questions we get asked

Is my Nebraska city council or school board race partisan?

Almost certainly not. Nebraska elects school boards on nonpartisan ballots (32-543; 32-544), and the Legislature, State Board of Education, Regents, community college, NRD, and public power boards are nonpartisan too. Council seats in Lincoln, Omaha, and commission-plan cities are nonpartisan by charter or statute (32-539). County offices such as commissioner, clerk, sheriff, and attorney are the main partisan local races, nominated by party at the May primary. The Secretary of State's candidate filing guide lists which 2026 offices are partisan and nonpartisan.

When is the filing deadline to run for local office in Nebraska?

For any office on the statewide May primary ballot, which includes county, first- and second-class city, and school board seats, filing runs January 5 through February 15 if you currently hold any elective office and January 5 through March 1 if you do not (Neb. Rev. Stat. 32-606). Village board, township, and ESU seats that appear only in November file by July 15 (incumbents) or August 1. Nebraska moves a weekend deadline to the next business day. Lincoln and Omaha set their own dates under their charters.

Do I have to register with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for a school board race?

Only once you raise, receive, or spend more than $5,000 in a calendar year, counting your own money. At that point Nebraska law requires a Statement of Organization (Form A-1) with the Commission, a filing fee, and periodic Campaign Statements (Form B-1) that itemize contributors over $250 and expenditures over $250, filed in FirstTuesday or on paper. Under $5,000 there is no committee and no report. Unlike many states, Nebraska has no city clerk or county filing officer for campaign finance; the Commission covers state and local races alike.

Are there contribution limits in Nebraska?

No dollar limits. Nebraska's Political Accountability and Disclosure Act does not cap what an individual, corporation, union, LLC, or PAC may give a candidate for state or local office; it relies on disclosure instead. You itemize anyone who gives more than $250 in a year, report contributions of $1,000 or more received in the last 14 days before an election within days on Form B-5, and businesses and unions that give more than $250 file their own Form B-7 with the Commission. Loans to a candidate committee are restricted, so treat borrowed money differently from gifts.

How do I get the Nebraska voter file and what does it include?

Submit the Public Service Request Form and a voter file affidavit to the Nebraska Secretary of State with $500. That buys the statewide file, refreshed on the first of every month and available on request for a full year, with name, residential and mailing address, phone number, registration status, voter ID, birth year, registration date, precinct, polling place, party affiliation, district details, and voter history. Use is limited to elections, political activity, voter registration, law enforcement, and jury selection (32-330). County offices sell their own lists at no more than 3 cents per name.

How can I see who has already voted early in my Nebraska county?

Ask the county election commissioner or clerk for the record of early voters. Neb. Rev. Stat. 32-948 requires the office to log every early-ballot applicant with address, precinct, the date the ballot was sent or picked up, and the date it was voted or returned, and makes that record and the applications open to public inspection before the election. Request it daily during the 30-day in-person early window before a statewide election (15 days before other elections) and match it against your Nebraska voter file to stop contacting voters whose ballots are already in.

What is the filing fee for a Nebraska county or city office?

One percent of the office's annual salary for county, city, and village officers, paid before you file; city and village candidates pay the city or village treasurer and bring the receipt to the county election office (32-608). Nebraska charges no fee for school board, educational service unit, community college, natural resources district, or sanitary improvement district seats, or for any office paying under $500 a year or a per diem. Home-rule charter cities set their own fees for mayor and council, and a candidate who qualifies as a pauper may file without a fee.

When are Lincoln, Nebraska city elections in 2027?

Lincoln holds its city primary on April 6, 2027 and its general election on May 4, 2027, electing the mayor, city council, and Lincoln Board of Education on nonpartisan ballots. The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission's 2027 Lincoln candidate brochure keys campaign statements to those dates (due March 8, March 29, April 26, and June 14, 2027) and requires a $150 committee fee once a candidate crosses $5,000. Candidate filing dates come from the Lincoln charter; confirm them with the Lancaster County Election Commissioner.

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked against the official sources below on September 9, 2026. Rules change between cycles; when a number here and the agency disagree, the agency is right.