Nebraska is poised to enter the national debate over whether voters should be required to show some kind of identification in order to vote, as Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen plans to push legislation requiring Nebraskans to show ID before being allowed to vote.
Thirty-one states require voters to present some kind of identification in order to vote — and in 15 of those states it must be a photo ID. But Nebraska is one of 20 states with no voter ID law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. As more states adopt stricter voter ID laws, it’s become a hot-button issue, because critics say poor people, minorities and elderly people are less likely to carry identification while proponents say requiring proof of ID reduces voter fraud.
The NAACP and other minority and labor groups plan to hold protests nationwide to bring more attention to the issue on Dec. 10. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
During the last legislative session, Janssen introduced a bill (LB 239) to require voters to show state-issued photo identification. Although the Legislature’s fiscal office didn’t foresee Janssen’s bill costing the state money last session, the state Department of Motor Vehicles estimated it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars because the department said it would have to give indigent people free voter ID cards.
Full Article: | Missouri News Horizon.