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Nebraska’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s top election official lacked the authority to revoke voting rights from individuals convicted of felonies.
The decision could add hundreds of new voters to the rolls and influence the upcoming election on Nov. 5. Since the court confirmed that individuals with felony records are eligible to register to vote, this will significantly impact future elections for the Cornhusker State.
Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s order could have prevented over 7,000 Nebraskans from voting in the upcoming election, according to the ACLU. Many of these voters are in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, where key races could be decided. In July, Evnen instructed county officials to reject voter registrations from people with felony convictions, based on a state attorney general opinion that deemed unconstitutional a new law restoring voting rights to individuals who have completed their felony sentences.
The attorney general’s opinion argued that the 2024 law allowing people with felony convictions to vote violated the state constitution, asserting that only the state Board of Pardons could restore voting rights, a rare process in Nebraska. The Board, consisting of Republicans Evnen and Gov. Jim Pillen, controls pardons. The opinion also deemed a 2005 law restoring voting rights after two years unconstitutional. However, the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously ruled that election officials must enforce the 2024 law, stating that only a supermajority of justices can declare a law unconstitutional.
Nebraska is a largely Republican state but, like Maine, apportions its Electoral College votes by congressional district. The Omaha-area district has awarded one vote to Democratic presidential candidates twice—Barack Obama in 2008 and Joe Biden in 2020.
Okay fine, in the last 24 hours the Nebraska Supreme Court announced convicted felons can now vote in November and a Georgia judge overturned a rule requiring ballots be counted by hand…but don’t you DARE try to convince me these same people would ever actually rig an election.
— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) October 16, 2024
In a closely contested 2024 race, this single electoral vote could be decisive. After redistricting in 2021, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by over 13,000, and the district also has nearly 114,000 independent and third-party voters. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump, thereby gaining over 22,000 votes.
Nebraska has competitive races for a U.S. Senate seat and the 2nd District’s U.S. House seat. Two-term Republican Sen. Deb Fischer faces a strong challenge from independent candidate Dan Osborn, a former union leader who rejects both major parties. In the House race, Republican Rep. Don Bacon is again up against Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas in a rematch of their close 2022 election, which Bacon narrowly won with 51% of the vote.
BREAKING NEWS: The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a law restoring felons’ right to vote in Nebraska immediately upon the completion of their sentence. Learn more about this decision below.https://t.co/vgEcoYkWSw
— The Daily Nebraskan (@DailyNeb) October 16, 2024
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