Senator Janssen and Schilz are still pushing their voter suppression bill, LB 239. The bill not only will decrease the vote, it will cost taxpayers and local counties hundreds of thousands of dollars for a problem that doesn’t even exist in our state. 

Senator Schilz has prioritized the voter ID bill which means it could come up for floor debate as early as Monday. You might also have seen Senator Janssen’s misleading Facebook ads pushing his bill. It’s time for us to make sure our state senators hear from us loud and clear that we need them to defend our right to vote. 

It’s become a popular talking point to say, “You need a valid ID to buy beer, so you should have one to vote too.” It’s shame those folks are comparing a constitutional right to buying alcohol. About 10% of Nebraskans do not have photo IDs, and you do not need a photo ID to vote. While the “beer talkers” want to pretend that everyone has a photo ID, we all know grandparents who no longer drive or folks who use public transportation that simply do not have a government-issued photo ID.

In an appalling move, the Nebraska Republican Party sent out an email asking their members to tell Republican state senators to “get in line” and support voter ID. It’s bad enough they want to infringe on our constitutional right to vote, now they’re trying to turn our non-partisan Unicameral into a partisan playground. No Nebraskan should lose the right to vote just because the NEGOP says so.

If voter ID passes, 130,000 Nebraskans may not have their vote counted on election day. Our counties will have to spend $200,000-$600,000 more on every election cycle for a bill that does not address an actual problem in Nebraska. Bold won’t accept this, and we hope you won’t either.

ACTION:
Protect our right to vote by contacting your state senator. Let them know you expect them to defend our constitutional right to vote.