Voter ID bill filibustered to death

LINCOLN, Nebraska - State senators have filibustered to death a bill that would have required voters to show government-issued photographic ID at their polling places.

State senators debated the bill, LB239, on March 27 and March 28. A motion for cloture, or ending debate, Wednesday failed by three votes on a vote of 30-16.

LB239 was introduced by Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont and prioritized by Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala.

The bill, which was first debated Feb. 27, would require voters to present a driver's license or state-issued identification card.

With an amendment introduced by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, voters who lacked the needed ID would be mailed an acknowledgement of registration card to use as identification when voting.

Janssen said he introduced the bill to "further protect the integrity and reliability of elections."

"Nebraskans are honest and forthcoming people," he said. But Nebraskans are also not na*ve in thinking that voter fraud doesn't exist, he said.

Some opponents of the voter ID bill said it would create an impediment to voting.

Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, who voted against cutting off debate, said the bill would disproportionately burden certain groups of voters, such as the elderly, students and poor people.

LB239 only addresses voter fraud by voter impersonation. Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton, who also voted against the motion, said she thought there was "a lot more opportunity for monkey business" in mail elections.

"Who's to say those ballots can't be intercepted?" she asked.

Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha, who voted against the motion, said the law would be arbitrary.

"I am not advocating voter fraud, but I have yet to hear one person talk about an actual case," he said.

Schilz said this wasn't a solution looking for a problem, it was leadership.

"You anticipate the problem," he said, adding he would like to make sure there aren't voter fraud problems in the future.

"It's OK to think a little bit ahead of a problem," he said.

After the vote, Janssen said he wasn't done with the issue of voter fraud.

"I think that our elections are susceptible to fraud right now and we're not doing much about it, we're not really doing anything about it, and I think we need to start in on that," he said.