Nebraska's top election official said he won't remove convicted felons who registered to vote under a 2005 law from the state's voter rolls while a legal challenge against doing so is before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen said Thursday he also would not move forward on a plan to restore those individuals' voting rights at an Aug. 20 meeting of the Board of Pardons.
In a news release, Evnen said he requested the Board of Pardons remove an agenda item to restore voting rights to individuals with felony convictions who registered to vote under LB53.
That law, which was on the books in the Cornhusker State for nearly two decades, allowed convicted felons to register to vote in Nebraska two years after completing the terms of their sentence.
The Legislature in April removed the two-year waiting period. Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne's bill (LB20), which passed on a 38-6 vote, restored voting rights to felons immediately upon the completion of their sentence.Â
Approximately 7,000 people with felon convictions would have become eligible to register to vote in July, when LB20 was set to take effect.
Two days before, however, Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued an opinion that both LB20 and LB53 before it violated the state's separation of powers clause.
In an 18-page opinion, Hilgers said the executive branch's Board of Pardons — not the Legislature — had authority to restore voting rights to felons.
Using the legal basis in Hilgers' opinion, Evnen ordered local election officials to not accept new voter registrations from felons who were set to become eligible to participate in the state's elections.
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That action brought a lawsuit from the ACLU of Nebraska and Civic Nebraska , which petitioned the Nebraska Supreme Court on behalf of three men, who were blocked from registering to vote by Evnen's order .
The state's highest court agreed to hear the case and set arguments for the end of this month .
In a news release on Thursday, Evnen said individuals with felony convictions who registered to vote while LB53 was in effect would remain on the voter rolls.
But, the secretary of state said county election officials should continue to not accept any new voter registrations from individuals with felony convictions under LB20, unless they have been pardoned.
"I am hopeful that the Nebraska Supreme Court will quickly issue a decision prior to the November general election," Evnen said in a news release. "We will follow whatever direction the court gives us regarding felon registrations."
In a statement, Civic Nebraska said "the only acceptable path" for Nebraska's election officials to follow was the law set by LB20.
"Using the Board of Pardons to restore only some Nebraskans' voting rights would have been an unnecessary half-measure,"Â Civic Nebraska spokesman Steve Smith said in a statement. "The Nebraska Supreme Court will have the final say in this matter.
"We look forward to making our case on Aug. 28."
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Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com .
On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS
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