Nebraska’s top election official does not have the authority to declare a state law unconstitutional restores voting rights A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union told the state Supreme Court on Wednesday that those found guilty of the crime.
ACLU attorney Jane Seu said it did Secretary of State Bob Evne’s order last month, county election officials denied voter registration to people convicted of felony crimes, which is illegal and unconstitutional. Citing legal precedent, Seu said only the Nebraska Supreme Court can determine whether a state law is unconstitutional.
“The clerk here made a unilateral decision to declare our statutes unconstitutional,” Seu told the justices. “The court should fix this threshold fix by issuing a decision as soon as possible to give Nebraska voters the clarity they need before this year’s election.”
Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Eric Hamilton said Evne took an oath to uphold the state constitution and was committed not to enforce laws he deemed unconstitutional.
ACLU sued last month On behalf of three Nebraskans — a Democrat, a Republican and an independent — who will be disenfranchised by Evne’s order. Because Evne’s action comes just weeks before the November election, the ACLU asked to take the case directly to the Nebraska Supreme Court, and the high court agreed.
The ACLU said Evne’s order could prevent 7,000 or more Nebraskans from voting in the upcoming election. Many of them live in Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, where both race for president and Congress may be in play.
The high court is expected to rule before the deadline to register to vote in the November election. There are several deadlines for registering by mail, online or through a third party. The last day to register to vote is October 25 and must be done in person.
Evne’s order came after the Nebraska Legislature passed legislation often referred to by its bill number. LB20immediately restores the voting rights of people who have successfully completed the terms of their criminal sentences earlier this year. The order was issued on July 17, the same day state Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued an opinion saying the new law violates the state constitution’s separation of powers.
The opinion also struck down as unconstitutional a 2005 state law known as LB53 that restored voting rights to people convicted of felony crimes two years after serving their sentences. The ACLU said the law, if upheld as unconstitutional, could disenfranchise tens of thousands of Nebraskans who have been eligible to vote for the past 19 years.
Even though Evnen ordered county election officials not to register felony convictions for the November election, he said he would not take steps to remove felony convictions from voter rolls who are legally registered to vote under the 2005 law.
According to Hilgers, the Legislature violated the constitutional separation of powers, arguing that only an executive-controlled state Board of Pardons could restore voting rights through pardons, which are extremely rare in Nebraska.
Evnen asked Hilgers for feedback. Evnen, Hilgers and Gov. Jim Pillen make up the three-member Board of Pardons. All three are Republicans.
“In the run-up to the presidential election, the secretary repealed a two-decade-old disenfranchisement law without legal authority, disenfranchised thousands of Nebraska voters and refused to enforce much of Nebraska’s election code,” the ACLU said. brief before the high court.
Although the ACLU asked the state Supreme Court to rule only on a writ of mandamus — a court order to compel a public official to perform a legally required act — the court said it would rule on the underlying law restoring voting rights. felony convictions are constitutional.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case, Evne’s predecessor and fellow Republican, John Gale, said he disagreed with Evne’s actions.
“In this case, I believe the Nebraska Legislature acted with clear authority and LB53 and LB20 should be enacted as law for the 2024 election and future elections,” said Gale, who served as secretary of state from 2000 to 2019.