Voter bill faces changes
LINCOLN — Nebraska's fiscal woes are derailing a proposal that would require citizens to show photo identification to vote.
State Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont has backed off the original language in his Legislative Bill 239 to avoid the bill's potential costs.
In its place, he plans to offer an amendment that would include a non-photo ID in the list of acceptable documents. The amendment still would require voters to show identification before casting ballots.
But voters could present a voter registration acknowledgement notice instead of a driver's license, state ID card, passport or other federal photo ID.
The notices are postcards or letters mailed when people first register to vote or change their registration for any reason.
Janssen said he is pursuing the amendment to counter opposition and eliminate possible costs of his original bill. Even a non-photo ID would improve security for the voting process, he said.
“Right now you don't have to show anything to vote,” Janssen said. “A lot of people are alarmed by that. I hope to make the voting process more fraud-free.”
The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee is expected to debate Janssen's bill and amendment Thursday.
Janssen's amendment, however, doesn't appear likely to win over opponents and could create its own set of problems.
Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, said the amendment would increase costs to the counties yet do little to prevent people from attempting to impersonate voters.
“I don't see that that solves the problem at all,” he said. “There's no security in that.”
Few people keep their notices or know where to find them, Dix said. That means counties would have to print and mail numerous replacements.
Neal Erickson, deputy secretary of state, said an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 registered voters in Nebraska don't have a driver's license or state ID card.
LB 239, as originally proposed, would require voters to show a photo ID issued by the state or federal government every time they cast a ballot.
Under current state law, voters have to show identification only if they have registered by mail and are voting for the first time. Copies of utility bills, bank statements, paychecks and government documents are accepted as well as photo IDs.
The bill would require the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue free voter identification cards for people who don't have identification and are indigent.
Under the bill, IDs would not be required for voters casting early ballots, elections held by mail or nursing home residents.
Voters who come to the polls without identification would have to cast provisional ballots. Those ballots would be counted if the voters return within 10 days to show a photo ID or to sign an affidavit saying they were indigent and couldn't get ID, or that they had religious objections to being photographed.
Janssen said he took up the issue after last year's secretary of state race in Iowa.
Republican Matt Schultz beat an incumbent by arguing that voters should be required to provide a photo ID.
A voter ID bill, however, is foundering in the Iowa Legislature. It passed the GOP-controlled House but is stuck in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Opponents in both Iowa and Nebraska argue the voter ID proposals would be expensive and would discourage voting, especially among the elderly, the poor and the disabled who are less likely to have photo IDs.
In addition, opponents say the measures are unnecessary.
“Voter fraud is all but nonexistent in Nebraska,” said Jack Gould of Common Cause Nebraska.
Janssen's proposal also raises constitutional problems, said Amy Miller, legal director for ACLU Nebraska. She said it would run afoul of federal and state constitutional protections for voting rights.
She said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter ID law in 2008 only because that state provides free ID cards to all who need one.
But a federal court blocked Georgia's law because it provided free cards only to the indigent. The court said fees charged non-indigent voters amounted to unconstitutional poll taxes.
The state responded by requiring counties to issue free ID cards to any voter wanting one.
Janssen said using acknowledgment notices addresses the constitutional questions by avoiding costs to voters.
At present, only Indiana and Georgia require all voters to present photo IDs. Six states request photo IDs but have alternatives for voters lacking identification.
The 2008 Indiana decision, plus Republican gains in state legislatures last year, have encouraged an explosion of voter ID bills in states this year.
Photo ID measures appear headed for passage in Missouri, Kansas, Texas and South Carolina, but they remain up in the air in Minnesota and Colorado and have run aground in New Mexico.