Today marks the end of 32nd legislative day. This means we are already more than halfway done with this year’s short session.
So far, we have seen incredible engagement from our Voting Rights Advocates. From packing the hearing room in opposition to Voter ID and contacting senators by phone to publishing more than a dozen letters to the editor and editorials Nebraska’s newspapers, our advocates have been incredibly impactful.
Thanks to you all, there have been tremendous gains in implementing our 2018 legislative agenda. Because of our vocal opposition to this year’s flavor of voter ID in the form of LB1066 we have effectively prevented it from gaining a priority designation. And with a fiscal note well over 3 million dollars, this bill is effectively killed for the rest of the session.
Other victories have come in the form of amendments to both LB1065 and LB1064 that have significantly changed their form. The amendments have lessen both bills’ potential to cause harm to Nebraska’s voters and to our budget.
But our work is still not over.
With the last half to go, we still have our March 6th Lobby Day to really show the Legislature the power of our collective voices.
Although we’ve taken care of the voter ID bills introduced this session, LR1CA, a constitutional amendment that would place voter ID directly into our constitution, has gained a priority designation from Senator Larson. We need to keep fighting and to keep the pressure on our representatives.
Please spread the word and invite your friends and families to participate. At this Lobby Day we will promote all of our 2018 Legislative Agenda.
This includes:
Supporting the restoration of voting rights for returning citizens – LB1027
Supporting modernization of our voter registration system – LB290
Supporting the fight against an Article V Constitutional Convention – LR277
Supporting independent redistricting legislation that would prevent gerrymandering when drawing legislative boundaries – LB973, LB974 and LB975
Opposing disastrous voter identification laws – LR1CA, LB1065 and LB1066
Opposing pro-Article V legislation – LR6, LR268 and LB1058
Again, thank you for all the work that you do. If you cannot make our Lobby Day, please take action on one of the bills listed above by either contacting your state senator or educating your friends and family about these important issues. Every conversation matters and every action taken moves us closer to our goals of creating a more modern and robust democracy in this great state.
Sincerely,
John Cartier
Director of Voting Rights
