Aaron Sanderford
OMAHA — Three of the people waiting Wednesday in the 24-minute line from the front door to the service window at the Douglas County Election Commission did something the Nebraska Legislature changed state law to help them do.
They freshly registered to vote, thanks to Legislative Bill 20 and the Nebraska Supreme Court upholding the law hours earlier. LB 20, passed in April, eliminated a two-year wait after serving a felony criminal sentence before restoring voting rights.
Jason Kotas and TJ King, both of Omaha, waited in line Wednesday and registered in person, filling out the form, talking to a county employee, and leaving ready to vote. Chantal Wentz of Johnson County registered online while waiting with them.
Three new voters
Kotas, who helps incarcerated people re-enter society, said he had never voted. He said he is excited to go to the polls Nov. 5 with his wife. He said he wanted to feel more like a full participant in society. He registered as a Republican.
“I think it’s overall being able to vote,” Kotas said. “I wish there were different options. You gotta pick what’s best for your household, your community and just go from there.”
King, a community activist in North Omaha who has volunteered for LGBTQIA+ causes, said he was overwhelmed with gratitude for all of the people who have worked alongside justice-involved people to restore their right to vote. He registered Democratic.
“It’s very surreal,” King said. “It lets us know that a lot of us that were on the fight … that our voices were heard and that it didn’t fall on deaf ears and we have a voice now.”
And Wentz, who now also works to help people reintegrate into society, said she was excited as the mother of daughters to vote for women’s rights. She said she hopes to set a better example for her kids. Because she registered online, her party affiliation was not immediately available.
“Today to me just means not only regaining the community and my civic duty being restored, but I’m a mother of seven children,” Wentz said. “There were a lot of opportunities I missed in setting examples for them.”
All three spoke with reporters, hours after the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that LB 20 should be implemented until or unless a court rules otherwise. The court stopped short of answering the constitutional question Evnen and Hilgers raised.
Evnen and Hilgers said they would abide by the court’s ruling.
Counties prepared for change
Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse, like county election officials across Nebraska, had the updated forms ready to register voters who have served their sentences. He said he had seen at least five newly eligible folks.
They had to wait to register until Wednesday because Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, acting on the advice of Attorney General Mike Hilgers, stopped registrations under LB 20 in July, expressing doubts about LB 20’s constitutionality.
Evnen and Hilgers had argued, much like Gov. Jim Pillen, that only the executive branch has the authority to restore someone’s civil rights after committing a felony — via the Pardons Board on which all three of them serve — not the legislative branch.
Their choice called into question the potential registrations of up to 7,000 Nebraskans that advocates say could have had their voting rights restored by LB 20, and also tens of thousands who had them restored by the law’s predecessor, LB 53 from 2005.
Wednesday, the Supreme Court sided with Civic Nebraska’s lawsuit with two potential voters. It ruled that Evnen and Hilgers were wrong to stop registrations under LB 20 until or unless a court deems the law unconstitutional, and none has.
Groups contacting potential voters
Civic Nebraska and other groups, including ACLU Nebraska, are working with volunteers to call, text and knock on doors of potential voters who have been identified as among the thousands newly eligible to vote, spokesman Steve Smith said.
Time is short. Friday is the last day for Nebraskans to register to vote by mail or online for the 2024 general election. The deadline for registering in-person at a county elections office is Oct. 25. Advocates urged people to visit www.getmyvoteback.org.
Jasmine Harris, director of public policy and advocacy for RISE, said people who have been caught in the uncertainty between LB 20’s passage and the move by Evnen and Hilgers have been “scared to vote,” including people who registered under LB 53.
Until the court acted Wednesday — and made plain that people who have served their sentence can register — many were scared that they might risk another felony by trying, she said. That’s why it was vital that the court acted, she said. Activists were ready.
“You can hear it in their voice, because these are people who really want to be a part of our community, to do what we ask people to do every day, just to show up and be apart and have your voice heard,” Harris said.