Nebraska Voter ID Amendment (2014)

Not on Ballot
This measure was not put on an election ballot

The Nebraska Voter ID Amendment was not on the November 4, 2014 ballot in Nebraska as an initiated constitutional amendment. The measure would have required voters to prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote and required them to present a valid photo ID when voting. Nebraska drivers licenses, state identifications cards, concealed carry of handgun licenses, U.S. passports, employee badges or IDs issued by a government agency, U.S. Military IDs, student IDs from a Nebraska postsecondary institute, public assistance IDs and tribal ID cards would have all been considered forms of valid photo ID.

Background

See also: State by State Voter ID Laws

All states are required to meet the minimum voter identification requires set by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, which required photo ID for voters who registered by mail and did not provide identification. As of 2014, 31 states had laws in effect requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls. North Carolina enacted a voter ID law in 2013 set to take effect in 2016. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,

“	Proponents see increasing requirements for identification as a way to prevent in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in the election process. Opponents say there is little fraud of this kind, and the burden on voters unduly restricts the right to vote and imposes unnecessary costs and administrative burdens on elections administrators.	”
—National Conference of State Legislatures

Nebraska law at the time of this Voter ID Amendment proposal only required photo ID for first-time voters who registered by mail.

Support

• Radio Free Nebraska, sponsor
• Lory Storm, sponsor
• My Rights Nebraska

My Rights Nebraska also supported the proposed initiative Nebraska Prohibit Federal Firearms Restrictions Initiative (2014).

Arguments

My Rights Nebraska provided the following arguments on their website in support of the Voter ID Amendment:

• The law simply ensure the constitutional requirement of citizenship for voting rights is enforced. It also upholds the statutory laws stating that no qualified voter may be impaired from voting because photo IDs prove the qualification.
• The law provides many ways to prove identity and multiple forms of approved photo ID to use at the poll. Additionally, over 95 percent of voters have a driver's license.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Nebraska

In order to qualify the proposed constitutional amendment, supporters were required to collect valid signatures totaling a minimum of 10 percent of registered voters by July 4, 2014. The exact number was based on the number of registered voters on that day. This amounted to at least 125,000 valid signatures. In addition, signatures needed to be collected from five percent of the registered voters in 38 of the 93 Nebraska counties.

Secretary of State John Gale (R) said that only one initiative for 2014 - the Minimum Wage Increase Initiative - submitted signatures.

See also

Suggest a link

• 2014 ballot measures
• Nebraska 2014 ballot measures
• Laws governing the initiative process in Nebraska

External links

• Nebraska Secretary of State: 2014 Elections
• Full text and petition form for voter ID initiative