Elmer Jacob Burkett (December 1, 1867 – May 23, 1935) was an American educator, lawyer and politician who served six terms as a representative and a senator from Nebraska from 1899 to 1911.

Burkett was born on a farm near Glenwood, Iowa.

During his term, he served as the chairman of the Committee on Indian Depredations (Fifty-ninth Congress) and on the Committee on Pacific Railroads (Fifty-ninth through Sixty-first Congresses).

He then resumed the practice of law in Lincoln; he declined the candidacy for Governor of Nebraska in 1912, and was also an unsuccessful candidate for the vice presidential nomination in 1912 after the death of incumbent James S. Sherman.

He died in Lincoln on May 23, 1935, and was interred in Wyuka Cemetery.