A measure that would require Nebraska voters to show government-issued identification at the polls drew fierce criticism Tuesday from opponents in the Legislature, with one lawmaker calling it a “Jim Crow light” bill.
Lawmakers argued over the measure into the evening, but were not expected to reach a vote until Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor, Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen, told lawmakers that his bill seeks to fight the threat of voter fraud.
Critics say the problem doesn’t exist and have mounted a filibuster on the bill to delay a vote.
Janssen, a former U.S. Navy rescue swimmer, said he cast his first ballot as an absentee voter from a combat zone in the Persian Gulf.
“I took great pride in casting that ballot, and I’d hate to think it was canceled out by somebody voting illegally,” he said.
Opponents say the bill disproportionately affects poor and young voters. Between 50,000 and 100,000 Nebraskans do not have identification that would qualify as valid for voting purposes, according to the group Nebraskans for Civic Reform.
Omaha Sen. Tanya Cook likened the measure to old, southern Jim Crow laws designed to keep blacks and poor whites from voting. Cook, who is black and whose parents grew up in the South, said bill supporters were “extremely ignorant of the history of the United States.”
“You’re forgetting your history _ your American history,” she said. “This is Jim Crow light. Don’t try to say that it’s anything else, especially not to me.”
Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, also of Omaha, said the comment was “patently offensive” and an attempt to falsely frame the bill as a voter suppression effort.
“I can’t put it any other way, and I would hope that at some point this discussion would be patently offensive to the people who did live through those injustices,” he said. “… Anyone who would be dissuaded and disenfranchised from voting by (this measure) would be dissuaded by a rainy day. Because this is minimal.”
Sen. Steve Lathrop, an attorney from Omaha, said the bill would not likely survive a court challenge if passed. Lathrop, chairman of the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, said the state pays $275,000 in attorney fees for every constitutional challenge it loses.
“We are putting a hindrance, an impediment, on someone’s right to vote,” he said. “We are making someone do something before they can vote. We are violating our own constitution, and it isn’t going to sit there unattacked.”
Janssen said his proposal would reduce fraud and is not restrictive, because registered voters without IDs would still be allowed to vote provisionally. Counties would then verify their identities for their ballots to count.
The bill would not apply to early voters or those casting ballots by mail, unless they are voting for the first time.
State Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial said the measure would ensure that “Americans (are) voting for Americans.”
“I don’t know why this is an issue,” Christensen said. “It’s a constitutional right that needs to be protected.”
Gov. Dave Heineman has said he doesn’t view the proposed requirement as a major roadblock to voting and that bill sponsor Janssen is “focused in the right direction” regarding his attention to the issue.
Heineman acknowledged he doesn’t see voter fraud as a major problem in Nebraska, but said officials still must stay vigilant.
Janssen said the bill would apply to roughly 2 percent of Nebraska voters who lack a state driver’s license or other acceptable identification. He said it would cost Nebraska’s 93 counties a combined $15,000 for each statewide election.
Sixteen states have passed photo ID laws comparable to the Nebraska proposal, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In neighboring Kansas, a state law requiring voters to show photo identification took effect Jan. 1. The first vote held since then _ for a sales tax in the small town of Cimarron _ appeared to go smoothly, though officials debated whether it was a valid test of the new rule.
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The bill is LB239.
