The latest effort to require voters to present a photo ID in order to participate in Nebraska elections attracted strong opposition Thursday at a legislative hearing on its first step toward a filibuster showdown. The new proposal (LR1CA) offered by Sen. John Murante of Gretna was crafted in the form of a constitutional amendment that would be submitted to Nebraska voters in 2018. If voters approved the amendment, the Legislature would determine the voter ID requirements. … Opponents argued that requirements for voter photo IDs tend to suppress the votes of students and other mobile young people, the elderly and disabled, African-Americans, Latino-Americans and the poor, most of which are traditional Democratic constituencies. And that, some testifiers said, is what photo ID requirements are designed to do.
“It has the same effect as the poll tax that my parents endured,” said Major Dewayne Mays, speaking for the Lincoln branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “There is no evidence of voter fraud in Nebraska,” he said. “Additional restrictions and burdens on voters limit participation.”
Many low-income or elderly people may not have a driver’s license or any other form of photo ID, the committee was told. There should be “no burden on the constitutional right to vote,” said Danielle Conrad, executive director of ACLU of Nebraska.
Full Article: Voter photo ID heads toward showdown | Nebraska Legislature | journalstar.com.