OMAHA — Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, visited Nebraska on Thursday to encourage local Republicans to volunteer as poll workers, poll watchers and attorneys familiar with election law.

Whatley was one of the lead Republican attorneys that the George W. Bush campaign leaned on in 2000 in Broward County, Florida, to push back against Democratic Party efforts during a recount of the Bush race against Al Gore.

His appearance at a training session co-hosted by the Nebraska Republican Party was part of the RNC’s swing state and swing congressional district push to restore Republican faith in voting processes by monitoring them.

It’s also a sign that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is still interested in competing for Nebraska’s swing 2nd District. The state is one of two that awards a single Electoral College vote to the presidential popular vote winner in each congressional district.

Trump sowed doubts

Trump has raised doubts, often without evidence, about voting by mail. Some political observers have said his unwillingness to accept his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden depressed GOP turnout in 2021 and 2022.

But the RNC has been brainstorming ways to remind Republican voters who have lost faith that their vote still counts. Critics of the program have argued that it is aimed at slowing down the process to certification if the race is once again close.

The RNC says it has largely settled on trying to make sure that election rules are consistent, that voter IDs are required, that voter rolls are reviewed for errors and that people who want to vote early to do so by mail and not via drop boxes.

“This is not election denialism,” Whatley said. “These are not conspiracy theories. These are basic protections on voting.… We’re trying to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Program started in North Carolina

Whatley, a former GOP chair in North Carolina, said he started a similar “voting integrity” program there in 2019. A consent decree had limited how aggressively the RNC could monitor elections, citing fears of voter intimidation. The decree expired in 2018.

On Thursday, Whatley told about 80 to 100 local Republicans that they were needed. He gave a standard stump speech highlighting the Trump-era economy, Trump’s talk about border security and the value of projecting strength abroad. He criticized Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We need to throw away everything that we’re doing at the RNC and focus on two critical missions: We need to get out the vote, and we need to protect the ballot, and that’s it,” Whatley told his audience.

Whatley was joined by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is close with Trump.

“I don’t know why the Dems aren’t participating with us in this,” she said.

Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said the state party and the Democratic National Committee have an election protection team and plan in place, “so we are not worried.” She said they expect a close election.

“We’ve been at the election commissions late at night and early in the morning as our candidates won with a few hundred votes, so these plans are critical for a safe and fair election process,” Kleeb said. 

Update on winner-take-all push

Nebraska Republican Party chairman Eric Underwood spoke at Thursday’s event, thanking Charles Herbster, a big Trump donor and 2022 gubernatorial candidate, for helping to arrange the visit, and calling on Republicans to press their friends to vote.

In a follow-up interview, Underwood said the state party, the RNC and the Trump campaign are working on twin tracks to compete in the 2nd District while also pushing the Legislature to shift to winner-take-all rather than splitting the state’s Electoral College votes.

“We believe now that our senators and everybody else is on the same page,” Underwood said. “And if it’s what’s meant for this state, then it’s going to happen. I think there’s still a good chance for it to happen this year.”