A recent lawsuit aims to safeguard the voting rights of Nebraska residents with felony convictions, following directives from state officials to local election commissioners to ignore a newly enacted law that reinstates voting rights for individuals with felony convictions, Courthouse News reports. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit directly with the Nebraska Supreme Court on Monday -- in response to Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen’s instruction to local election officials to stop registering voters with past felony convictions. Evnen’s directive was prompted by an opinion issued by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on July 17, two days before LB20 was set to take effect, which deemed the state’s new voting rights law unconstitutional. Neither Hilgers nor his opinion has the authority to overturn the law.
In the 89-page filing to the state Supreme Court, plaintiffs say Evnen’s directive was “plainly violative of the fundamental separation of powers” and created chaos and uncertainty in the state’s electoral process four months before a presidential election. The plaintiffs want the court to require Evnen and county election commissioners to provide voter registration forms in line with LB20 and ensure people who have completed their felony sentences are not disqualified from voting. LB20 would allow at least 7,000 Nebraskans to be newly eligible to vote this year, according to an estimate from Nebraska’s Voting Rights Restoration Coalition. Civic Nebraska was working on aiding those hopeful voters in registering before the group was forced to halt that action based on Evnen’s orders. The plaintiffs filed directly with the state Supreme Court to speed up the process in light of quickly approaching electoral deadlines.
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