Next steps for voter ID in Nebraska: No notary required, narrower focus on verification

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — Nebraska state senators are setting aside the most controversial parts of two legislative proposals to implement voter ID and writing something new and “narrower.”

Key senators say the Legislature’s next proposal to verify the IDs of Nebraska voters will not require a notary to sign ballots by mail, nor will it propose limiting who gets to vote by mail.

Both proposals were the subject of Nebraska Examiner reporting on the difficulties posed by requiring a notary’s signature or limiting mail voting for rural, elderly and low-income voters.

Narrower focus

Eight senators on the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee expect to begin meeting this week over lunch to draft the new Voter ID bill, said State Sen. Tom Brewer, the chairman.

He said he hopes the committee can settle on new language this week or next and vote to send a new committee bill to the full Legislature as early as mid- to late April. 

Brewer, who represents north-central Nebraska, said the committee is taking a simpler approach to avoid getting swamped by the filibusters that are bogging down other bills this session.

“We are going to keep this narrowly focused on what the people approved,” he said.

Voters in November approved this language: “… before casting a ballot in any election, a qualified voter shall present valid photographic identification in a manner specified by the Legislature.”

Verifying ID for vote by mail

Brewer said Legislative Bill 535 by State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar will be the vehicle for the new bill. He said he expected to have a working draft for the committee to start from as early as Tuesday.

The newly revised bill is likely to allow spouses, caregivers or significant others to verify a voter’s identity before a person sends in a ballot, he said.

The proposal won’t try to make wholesale changes to how people vote today, he said. Legislative Bills 228 and 230 by State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, among other changes, would have ended “no excuse” voting by mail for most Nebraskans. It would have made exceptions for people serving in the military or living in elder care.

The committee had been waiting on legal opinions about some of the language of earlier proposals from the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, which Brewer said the committee received last week.

Slama described the feedback from the Attorney General’s Office as “very valuable” and said she was using it to rework the foundation of the committee’s proposal. 

She said she intends to make sure the draft works for the state agencies involved in carrying it out, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State’s Office.

She agreed with Brewer that the bill needs to be limited in scope and avoid becoming a Christmas-tree bill that gets harder to pass.

“The main issue is approving a framework that the voters of Nebraska overwhelmingly authorized last year,” she said. “The language is not yet there.”

Voting rights advocate hopeful

One committee member, State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, said she is encouraged by Brewer and the committee’s willingness to accept factual criticism about earlier proposals.

The committee, she said, is working to identify “the best models from our sister states that carry out the will of the people but minimize voter suppression.”

“I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to put our heads together and find the right path,” Conrad said. “And if we want it to be done this year, we have to do it in a way that minimizes opposition.”

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