Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen visited the KCNI/KBBN studios recently, where he spoke about his office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, including promoting international trade, overseeing secure elections, and improving state business services.
Evnen discussed his latest trade mission to Kenya earlier this month, marking his third trip there in recent years. He said the relationship between Nebraska and Kenya has continued to strengthen, particularly as the African nation looks for agricultural support following years of drought.
“Kenya lost 2 million head of livestock to starvation. Can you imagine? 2 million head to starvation,” Evnen said. “They’re very interested in corn and he (President William Ruto) made it clear to us. He wants corn from Nebraska.”
Along with yellow and white corn, Kenyan leaders are interested in distiller’s grains and ethanol. Nebraska’s irrigation technology is also drawing attention. Evnen said the trade mission included ethanol industry leaders, livestock nutritionists, irrigation experts, and leaders from the Nebraska Corn Board.
“President Ruto is pretty pleased with Nebraska,” Evnen said. “We’ve been there three times. He recognized that. He complimented us and praised us for returning to Kenya and this results in a business environment for Nebraskans who want to do business in Kenya that’s very positive.”
Turning to election matters, Evnen encouraged young people who will be eligible to vote in 2026 to begin thinking ahead about registering.
“If you will be 18 by election day in November of 2026, then after the first of the year, you can register to vote,” he said. “It’s not just a duty, it is a duty. It’s an obligation of good citizenship, but it isn’t only that. It’s also a pleasure. It’s really a, because you can go into the voting booth and exercise the privilege of voting a secret ballot. It is something that people have fought and died for.”
He also emphasized the measures in place to keep Nebraska’s elections accurate and trustworthy.
“Every single ballot counting machine in the state is checked three times for accuracy,” Evnen said. “Then after the elections, there is an audit, a post-election audit. Across the state in all 93 counties there were hand counts of ballots. We hand counted about 70,000 ballots. Of those 70,000 ballots that were hand counted across the state, there were discrepancies from the machine count in seven ballots. That’s 10,000s of 1%.”
In addition to his state duties, Evnen was recently elected treasurer of the National Association of Secretaries of State, a position that places him in line to serve as president of the organization in the coming years. He said this will provide Nebraska a direct link to national election policy discussions in Washington, D.C.
Evnen also spoke about upcoming goals within his office, including ensuring Nebraska election laws prevent both direct and indirect foreign spending on ballot initiatives. He also highlighted a project to modernize the state’s business services system, which handles filings and registrations for businesses and lending.
“It sounds like a really dry, uninteresting thing. But it’s not. It is absolutely critical. You will not have capital move. You can’t have lending in free markets unless people know who owns what, unless lenders know who owns what,” Evnen said. “It is vitally important to the movement of capital in a free market that we have these records. And it’s the Secretary of State in Nebraska who keeps them.”
He added that his office is committed to seeing the overhaul through. “It’s going to be more robust. It’s going to be easier for users, easier for filers to come in and file the documents that they need to. And this is something that I intend to see to a successful conclusion.”
For more information about the Secretary of State’s office, Evnen encouraged Nebraskans to visit sos.nebraska.gov.
Listen to Jeremy Shipe’s full conversation with the Secretary of State below
