Nebraska’s proposed voter ID bill, LB 239, has been removed from the legislature’s agenda, according to Associated Press reports Thursday evening.
The bill would have required voters to present a valid, current photo ID, or qualify for one of several exceptions, before receiving a ballot on election day. It had been introduced last session by State Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont and carried over to the session that began this month. The bill was one of dozens around the country that have recently been introduced or enacted, mostly by Republican controlled state legislatures.
According to reports from the Omaha World-Herald, Janssen pulled the bill to give himself more time to counter “misinformation” spread by the bill’s opponents. Several reports said he planned on bringing it back later in the session.
Janssen said in an interview Wednesday that the proposal was meant to protect the integrity of the vote by preventing voter fraud, such as when a voter pretends to be someone else to cast more than one ballot. His first vote, he said, was from his station in the Persian Gulf War. “It meant something to me to do that,” Janssen said. “I’ve always held that sacred.”