Sarah Slattery (D)
Sarah Slattery is a small business owner, community leader, and lifelong Nebraskan running for Secretary of State to restore trust, transparency, and integrity to the office. Raised in Plattsmouth, Sarah built her career through hard work and service – from her early jobs in local businesses to becoming an award-winning chef and helping grow her family’s agritourism destination, Slattery Vintage Estates. She is also a proud AmeriCorps alum who spent a year building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and a dedicated school nutrition professional who has served Nebraska students since 2015.
Deeply committed to her community, Sarah has continued showing up and taking action to protect public institutions and civic participation. After running for the Nebraska Legislature in 2022, she helped lead a successful effort to hold local officials accountable and now serves on the Plattsmouth Library Board and Bridge Commission. As Secretary of State, Sarah is focused on strengthening voter education, modernizing business services, and ensuring every Nebraskan can participate in fair, transparent, and accessible elections.
Bob Evnen (R)
Bob Evnen, Nebraska’s Secretary of State since 2019, has spearheaded several controversial election policies that disenfranchise voters – particularly those with felony convictions and those favoring broader voting access.
In July 2024, he ordered county election officials to halt registration of individuals who had completed felony sentences, citing a constitutional interpretation by the Attorney General. This move would have stripped voting rights from more than 7,000 Nebraskans, until the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously overruled him, restoring their eligibility and calling his action “lawless.” Evnen has also been a strong advocate for strict voter ID laws and has resisted efforts like automatic registration or expanded mail-in voting, warning that early voting and “dark money” in ballot initiatives threaten election integrity.
Scott Petersen (R)
Scott Petersen has amplified doubts about election integrity by referencing the FBI’s 2020 seizure of ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County – an investigation tied to allegations about the 2020 election that courts did not substantiate. He has questioned the extent of Nebraska’s post-election audits, despite those audits being regularly conducted and publicly released, and suggested that if other states “steal elections,” Nebraska voters’ ballots are diminished.
By elevating unproven national election claims and casting doubt on established audit processes, Petersen’s campaign aligns with a broader push within segments of the GOP to revisit and question the legitimacy of election systems – an approach that election experts have cautioned can erode public trust in democratic institutions.