Last week the Nebraska Supreme Court cleared the way for people with felony convictions to vote in the upcoming election. Nebraska residents who are felons and have completed their sentences can register to vote in person at the County Clerk’s office through October 25, and then vote in the November 5 election.
For most of Nebraska’s history, people who had been convicted of a felony lost their right to vote forever. In 2005, the Nebraska Legislature voted to grant convicted felons the right to vote two years after completing their probation, incarceration, and parole. This year with LB 20 the Legislature decided to drop the two-year requirement, returning the right to vote after the felon had completed the sentence set in their trial. LB 20 was passed with bipartisan support. Gov. Jim Pillen allowed the bill to become law without his signature.
Just before the new measure was set to take effect this summer, Attorney General Mike Hilgers released a written opinion saying that both the new law and the 2005 law were improper. He argued that under the Nebraska Constitution, only the state’s Board of Pardons could restore voting rights to someone with a felony conviction. The Board of Pardons is made up of the governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen ordered local registrars to cease allowing anyone with a felony conviction to vote and said LB 20 and the 2005 law are unconstitutional. The order by Evnen could have kept 7,000 or more Nebraskans from voting in the upcoming election, the American Civil Liberties Union said. The ACLU sued and asked the state Supreme Court to hear the case.
Chief Justice Michael Heavican said, after a 5-2 decision, that they could not conclude that the provisions of LB 20 are unconstitutional based on the record before the Court. A supermajority of five justices must agree that a law is unconstitutional. The justices also questioned the timing of Attorney General Hilger’s opinion and Evnen’s directive to reject voter registrations, which came two days before LB20 would have gone into effect and nearly two decades after LB53 was passed in 2005.
Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote a separate opinion which agreed with the majority decision but clarified how she arrived at her decision. The separation of powers issue in the case “includes not only the obvious tension between the executive and legislative branches, but also the tension between the executive and judicial branches. I believe the true separation of powers story of this case is ultimately the preservation of the judiciary’s power, including the power to declare what statutes are constitutional.”
Justice Miller-Lerman even referenced The Simpsons television show, specifically Marge’s sisters. “Patty and Selma at the Department of Motor Vehicles may not be constitutional scholars, but they know that they are expected to follow the law.” She chastised state officials who have taken an oath to follow the constitution, where it is clear only the Nebraska Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional.
Why should felons have their right to vote restored after they’ve completed their sentences? Voting is one of the most essential rights we have as citizens. Felons have obviously committed a crime. After they have been punished, they return to our communities, raise families, work, and pay taxes.
Research done by The Sentencing Project in 2021 and 2022 shows that being reintegrated into society makes a felon much less likely to continue to commit crimes. When they are denied the right to vote, they are sent the message that they are still outsiders. Because they cannot vote, they do not have a voice in everyday laws and policies that affect their lives. Excluding people from participating in democratic life is an additional punishment. When they are able to vote, they begin to feel like they matter.
“I think that just getting back in the community and being a contributing member is difficult enough…[I] would like to someday feel like a, quote, ‘normal citizen,’ a contributing member of society, and you know that’s hard when every election you’re constantly being reminded, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m ashamed… It’s just loss after loss after loss.’” Uggen et al. (2013)
There are so many obstacles facing people who have been convicted of felonies, even after they’ve completed their punishment. Now in Nebraska they’ve had voting rights restored.