ELECTION 2024: Clock ticking on Nebraska Supreme Court to make decision on felon voting rights
Advocates and activists are pressing the state’s highest court for a ruling regarding the restoration of felon voting rights in Nebraska.
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - Time is running out for a certain decision to come down from the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The justices heard oral augments in August about whether Nebraska lawmakers can restore voting rights to felons across the state, but the attorney general argues that it’s up to the Board of Pardons to do that.
Civic Nebraska keeps the countdown clock on its website. The timing of a decision is key with a little more than 15 days remaining so affected Nebraskans can re-register to vote in-person. For online registration, it’s even less time — eight days.
While in-person voting opened earlier this week, there are around 7,000 Nebraska voters who would be newly eligible to cast a ballot with the restoration of their voting rights. But they are in limbo, waiting on the state’s highest court to make a decision.
That’s on top of the 60,000 Nebraskans who got their right to vote back in 2005, when lawmakers ended the lifetime ban on felons voting.
“There are so many people who want to exercise their right to vote,” said Jasmine Harris, the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for RISE. “Some who are registered under LB 53 are nervous to vote because they don’t know if they’ll be charged for it, so we really need this opinion from the Nebraska Supreme Court as soon as possible.”
By some estimates, this court decision could impact some 80,000 voters in Nebraska.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers argues that it’s unconstitutional for lawmakers to return voting rights to felons who have completed their sentence — that it should be the Board of Pardons who decides. That board is comprised of the Hilgers, Gov. Jim Pillen, and Secretary of State Bob Evnen.
Opponents say there isn’t even a box to ask them to give your voting rights back in the paperwork. It’s a seven-page document asking for all sorts of history — from jobs to the crime an individual committed, as well as victims, but there is a box to ask for restoration of gun ownership rights.
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