Who Has Access to Nebraska's Election Systems?

A recent federal court fight raises a question Nebraska should answer for itself:

Who is permitted to access our election infrastructure?

The Department of Homeland Security recently attempted to attach election-security requirements to certain federal homeland-security grants. Among the broader conditions were requirements concerning voter-list verification, hand-marked paper ballots, and manual audits. A federal judge ruled that FEMA exceeded its authority by attaching those election conditions to the counterterrorism grants. The litigation concerns DHS's authority to impose those conditions, not whether states may independently adopt election-security standards of their own.

That distinction matters.

Nebraska should establish its own standards for anyone with privileged access to voter-registration databases, election-management systems and other sensitive election infrastructure.

That means knowing:

1. Who has access?

2. Who employs them?

3. What systems can they reach?

4. What changes can they make?

5. Is their activity logged?

6. Are contractors and subcontractors held to the same standards as government employees?

These questions are especially important because CISA's 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan identifies contractors and vendors as potential third-party insiders when their access extends an election office's trust boundary.

Federal agencies can provide security recommendations. Courts can determine the limits of federal authority.

But Nebraska does not need Washington to tell us to know who has access to Nebraska's elections.

Nebraska elections must remain Nebraska's responsibility.