The Hall County Board of Supervisors canceled a hastily called Friday session to make plans to lobby senators to vote to keep the death penalty.
ACLU of Nebraska sent the board a letter early Friday afternoon, saying the so-called emergency meeting violated the Nebraska Open Meetings Act because it did not allow appropriate time for public comment.
"The ACLU of Nebraska is committed to ensuring government, including county governments, are accountable and transparent to its citizens," Executive Director Danielle Conrad said in a statement. "Our office has received numerous citizen complaints about the highly unusual actions of the Hall County Board of Supervisors in setting a meeting this afternoon to lobby on the death penalty.
"County officials are welcome to engage in the political process as they see fit, but they are not entitled to break or bend local regulations in how they call public meetings or expend public resources, whether at the behest of the governor or anyone else. Due to the extremely short notice given to the public for this meeting, the Board will be in violation of state law if it conducts business today."
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The meeting was set for 1:30 p.m. Amy Miller of ACLU of Nebraska said in a Facebook post about 2:45 that it had been canceled.
On Wednesday, Nebraska senators voted 32-15 to repeal the death penalty. Gov. Pete Ricketts is expected to veto the bill, meaning the Legislature will need 30 votes to override.
Hall County Supervisor Pam Lancaster had planned to have the board vote on a resolution asking senators to vote to uphold the veto, the Grand Island Independent reported.
She said board members have heard from law enforcement personnel and members of the public opposed to repealing the death penalty.
Lancaster said people will be allowed to comment on both sides of the issue.
At a Wednesday appearance in Grand Island, Ricketts asked people to contact their state senators to ask them to uphold the death penalty.