Nebraska election officials sued for blocking voter registration for ex-felons despite state law

(CN) — A new lawsuit seeks to protect voting rights for Nebraska residents with felony convictions after state officials directed local election commissioners to disregard a new law restoring voting rights for those with felony convictions.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit directly with the Nebraska Supreme Court on Monday in response to Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen’s instruction to local election officials to stop registering voters with past felony convictions.

Civic Nebraska, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization, and co-plaintiffs T.J. King, Gregory Spung and Jeremy Jonak, who each have felony convictions and seek to participate in this year’s election sued Evnen and two county election commissioners over the order.

Evnen’s directive was prompted by an opinion issued by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on July 17, two days before LB20 was set to take effect, which deemed the state’s new voting rights law unconstitutional. Neither Hilgers nor his opinion have the authority to overturn the law.

The Nebraska Legislature passed LB20 in April, a voting rights law that allowed people convicted of felonies to regain their voting rights immediately after completing the terms of their sentence, including probation and parole. The bill eliminated the two-year waiting period previously required for people with felony convictions under the terms of LB53, which was enacted in 2005.

In his 18-page opinion on the law, Hilgers said only the Board of Pardons had the authority to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies and said the restoration of that right is “an act of grace that undoes a legal consequence of a crime.”

The opinion prompted Evnen to direct local election officials to disregard LB20 and refuse to register voters who have felony convictions and who have not been pardoned by the state’s Board of Pardons. The board boasts three members: Hilgers, Evnen and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen.

In the 89-page filing to the state Supreme Court, the plaintiffs say Evnen’s directive was “plainly violative of the fundamental separation of powers” and created chaos and uncertainty in the state’s electoral process four months before a presidential election.

The plaintiffs want the court to require Evnen and county election commissioners to provide voter registration forms in line with LB20 and ensure people who have completed their felony sentences are not disqualified from voting.

“To me, this is about being fully part of society now that I have made up for a past mistake,” Sprung said in a statement. “There is an important election ahead of us, and I was excited that I could be part of it.”

Sprung lives in Omaha and hopes to register as a nonpartisan voter. The three individual plaintiffs all expressed an interest in participating in democracy again after fulfilling the terms of their sentence.

“Once someone has done their time, they deserve a second chance. I firmly believe that,” Jonak, a Wood River resident who hopes to register as a Republican, said in a statement.

LB20 would allow at least 7,000 Nebraskans to be newly eligible to vote this year, according to an estimate from Nebraska’s Voting Rights Restoration Coalition.

Civic Nebraska was working on aiding those hopeful voters in registering before the group was forced to halt that action based on Evnen’s orders.

“We have turned to the Nebraska Supreme Court to instruct the executive branch to do what it will not do: follow the law,” Steve Smith, director of communications for the nonprofit said in a statement.

The plaintiffs filed directly with the state Supreme Court to speed up the process in light of quickly approaching electoral deadlines.