• Originally published in the Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska) March 4, 2005

Copyright 2005 Lincoln Journal Star


By NATE JENKINS, Lincoln Journal Star

Bill now goes to governor, who has said he has concerns about it.

The thousands of convicted felons who live in Nebraska should be able to vote soon after completing their sentences, the Legislature decided Thursday, but Gov. Dave Heineman may have different plans for them.

Heineman has expressed reservations about jettisoning the current process, which allows the state Pardons Board to restore voting rights 10 years after sentence completion, in favor of the one that got final-round approval from the Legislature on Thursday after another round of debate.

If it receives Heineman's blessing, the bill introduced by Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln would open voting booths to felons two years after they completed their sentences, bringing Nebraska more in line with other states. Nebraska now is one of just six states where felons must receive full pardons before having their voting rights restored.

Heineman said last month he had concerns about the bill and did not think most Nebraskans would support it. His spokeswoman, Terri Teuber, said Thursday that Heineman still has reservations.

"He has some real concerns about the ideas being put forth," Teuber said. "That said, he's going to take the next five days to review the legislation."

Schimek said she has discussed the bill with Heineman.

"He's never indicated to me one way or the other what he's going to do," she said.

The governor has five days, excluding Sundays, to decide what to do with a bill. If he signs it or declines to act on it, the bill will become law. He also could veto the bill, a move the Legislature can override with 30 votes.

Lawmakers were scheduled to simply vote on the bill Thursday but were drawn into more debate when Sen. Mike Foley of Lincoln introduced an amendment for the sole purpose of generating discussion of the full bill.

While many felons who have reformed their behavior deserve the right to vote, Foley argued, others - particularly those who have committed heinous crimes and show no remorse - do not. Under Schimek's bill, he said, "all felons would be treated the same."

"The concept of making any sort of reparation to their victim is a concept that doesn't even compute," Foley said of some felons.

Said Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth: "When somebody gets murdered, their right to vote isn't brought back in a number of years."

Other lawmakers, including Schimek, argued it is the judicial system's role to levy punishments based on its judgments of criminal behavior, not the Legislature's. Parsing out some felons the Legislature senses are qualified to vote from other groups of criminals using determinations made outside the judicial system, Schimek said, "makes us the judge and the jury, and I don't believe that's our role."

Unlike Heineman, Schimek said she sensed the public would support restoring voting rights. Other supporters said that restoring voting rights would encourage felons to become productively engaged with society.

It is unclear how many more people would be eligible to vote if the bill were to pass, but 2,252 prisoners were released from state prisons last fiscal year after completing their sentences, according to the state Department of Correctional Services. And the Nebraska State Patrol has the names of 59,818 felons in its database.

Sen. Adrian Smith of Gering, a Republican, linked the bill to Democrats' efforts to expand voting rights to help garner more votes during elections. He called the bill "a political move more than anything."

Heineman, a Republican, also was accused of political maneuvering. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said Heineman and his staff pressured senators not to vote on the bill. The alleged strategy, if indeed it was used, apparently did not work: The vote in favor of the bill was 35-7, with seven senators not voting.

Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn, who has worked with felons for decades, sought to allay concerns about restoring voting rights to the state's most violent and unremorseful criminals.

"The people Senator Foley is talking about... I can guarantee you aren't going to rush to the election commissioner's office to sign up to vote," he said.

"If we've got a real Christian background," he added, "why can't we give this little bit of forgiveness to someone who really wants it?"