Election Season is Here Again

(This article appears in the April 2021 edition of Strictly Business magazine as part of Chamber President Wendy Birdsall's monthly column)

When one election cycle ends, another begins, and another is upon us at the local level with seats on the Lincoln City Council, Lincoln Public Schools Board of Education and Lincoln Airport Authority Board being contested this spring at the polls.

Though the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce does not endorse specific candidates, we strive to educate our members about the issues important to our community and are committed to connecting them with valuable resources throughout election season. Each year, we compile candidate questionnaires and make the responses available to anyone interested in learning more about the candidates by posting them on our website at lcoc.com/VoteLNK. 

At the Chamber, we continue to be your voice, advocating for pro-business policies in local, state and federal policy. We feel it is vital for our members to understand how the candidates view issues related to taxes, the needs of the business community and how to positively grow our city for the future.

We hope you take a moment to review the questionnaires to find out where each candidate stands on issues important to the business community such as job creation, infrastructure investment and Lincoln’s tax climate. Other voting resources are on our website, including how to register to vote, a voting guide for Lancaster County and a link to the Lancaster County Election Commissioner’s website.

Following the April 6 primary election, the general election will take place on May 4. In the days between the primary and general election, the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce will feature a city council candidate forum on Wednesday, April 14. That forum will be held virtually as part of our monthly Face the Chamber series. We are excited to see how the six remaining candidates will present their message and answer questions and look forward to presenting this robust forum. Once this forum is completed, we will have a recording of the event available on our website at lcoc.com/events.

While it is typical for local elections to see lower turnout than national and statewide elections, according to the Lancaster County Election Commissioner’s results, Lincoln and Lancaster County voter participation was up in 2019. At 36%, our 2019 voter participation results were nearly double what they were in 2017. It is so encouraging to see the results trending in the right direction and we are confident this trend will continue this spring. Once again, we are expecting to see a high number of ballots returned early, consistent with the 2019 local elections.  

We have a strong community with much to offer and a high quality of life because we all care about how the future, both near and long term, looks for Lincolnites. I applaud everyone who takes the time to remain civically engaged and I know great things will continue for our great city. I encourage every member of our community to make your voice heard on both April 6 and May 4, as great things will continue for Lincoln as we remain fully invested in its ongoing and future successes.