Legal Marijuana Now – one of four registered political parties in Nebraska – has decided to close its primary election ballot in 2026, meaning that only registered LMNP voters can participate in their full primary ballot. However, like the Republican Party’s closed primary, registered Nonpartisan voters can request a partial ballot listing all federal offices in contention for 2026. On the Democratic and Libertarian parties’ nonpartisan ballots, all partisan offices are open to voting by registered Nonpartisan voters.

Therefore, the League of Women Voters of Nebraska has deleted its previous post on voting in Nebraska’s May 12 primary election and updated it with the following information:

Primary elections in Nebraska are both partisan and nonpartisan in nature. Primary races for federal offices (e.g., Congress or U.S. Senate); state administration (e.g., governor, secretary of state, attorney general); and county administration (e.g., board of supervisors) are open to voters who have registered with a political party – which, in Nebraska, are Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Legal Marijuana Now.

Every voter will receive a nonpartisan ballot, which will include races for the state’s officially nonpartisan Legislature as well as races where three or more candidates have filed for one seat on a – for example – a community college or public utilities board.

But what about Nebraska’s Nonpartisan (independent) voters?

Of the 1,254,285 registered voters in Nebraska, 22% are registered as Nonpartisan, compared to the 26% Democratic and 49% Republican shares of the state’s electorate. (The remainder of Nebraska voters are Libertarian and Legal Marijuana Now.)

A Nonpartisan voter can request a Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or Legal Marijuana Now nonpartisan ballot in addition to the nonpartisan ballot that every voter will receive. On the Republican and Legal Marijuana Now nonpartisan ballots, only federal offices will be open for voting by a Nonpartisan voter. On the Democratic and Libertarian parties’ nonpartisan ballots, all partisan offices are open to voting. This is very confusing and even trained poll workers get this wrong.

The graphic below, from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s website, shows the options for voting by Nonpartisan voters. A detailed explanation by the Nebraska SOS website is available here: https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/how-nonpartisan-voting-works-nebraska-primary-elections

By training, poll workers can’t ask a Nonpartisan voter if they would like to request a party’s nonpartisan ballot as that might be considered electioneering – so you have to ask for a party’s nonpartisan ballot.