Nebraska’s highest court still mulling felon voting rights as thousands hope to cast their ballots
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The right to the ballot for thousands of voters hangs in the balance as the Nebraska Supreme Court continues to mull a major case with less than a month before polls open. The Court heard oral arguments almost two months ago, but as of Friday, still no decision.
“I don’t understand why I have to have those wounds reopened again, when they had just healed over,” Ragenia Wright, an Omaha resident uncertain of her voting rights, said.
Wright spent 68 days behind bars with a conviction that branded her a felon. She said she got out in 2009 and started to turn her life around.
“I was so excited,” Wright said. “I began to immediately vote after my two year waiting period. I wanted to be an active participating citizen of my country and of my state.”
A decision made in the Capitol earlier this year to end the two-year waiting period to vote for felons seemed to even further enfranchise people with past convictions, allowing them to vote after serving their sentence. But Attorney General Mike Hilgers called it unconstitutional, arguing that its the exclusive preserve of the Pardon’s Board to restore a person’s civil rights.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen agreed and refused to enforce this new law, even calling into question the 2005 law which let felons vote after two years. That makes Wright one of the tens of thousands of people waiting in the wings.
“I feel like I’m still incarcerated," Wright said. “I feel like I’m still being punished.”
As election day nears, many are still in the dark on what to do.
“It makes no sense that we’re still waiting on the decision from the Supreme Court,” Sen. Terrell McKinney said. “I’ve received calls and messages from individuals that were expecting to vote, who are confused about what’s going on. It’s tough to not be able to give them better guidance on what to do and what not to do.”
Wright got her Douglas County ballot mailed to her, but she doesn’t know if the ovals she darkens will matter.
“Because of the record that the governor and the Pardons Board has of being so sparse with their pardons, I have zero confidence in the fact that I’ll ever be able to vote again in Nebraska,” Wright said.
Wright said she still plans to send her ballot in, hoping to play a part in a process she said African Americans like her have historically been excluded from.
“Every time I drive to Lincoln and I see the State Capitol, I have so much pride,” Wright said. “That’s my State Capitol. Look at how beautiful that is. And now, I don’t know what to think.”
Evnen reminded Nebraskans on Friday: the deadline to register to vote online is next Friday, and the deadline to register to vote in person at a county election office is Friday, Oct. 25.
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