Election law measure amended, advanced
Lawmakers gave first-round approval March 23 to an annual election law cleanup bill after amending it to become an omnibus measure.
LB1075, sponsored by Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, would make a number of changes to laws relating to election provisions requested by the Nebraska secretary of state.
As introduced, the measure would authorize village clerks to prepare claims and issue warrants, modify the handling of elections when a school district exceeds its property tax authority and change various provisions of election law such as candidate filing procedures, precinct boundaries, voting requirements, ballots and recounts.
The bill also would prohibit petition circulation within 50 feet of a secure ballot drop box. Sanders said ongoing discussions since the bill’s public hearing about that provision resulted in a proposal from Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad to narrow the prohibition to 25 feet.
“I believe that strikes the right balance, and I encourage you to support her amendment,” Sanders said.
Conrad’s amendment, which she said satisfied all interested parties “just enough,” was adopted 36-0. She said ballot drop boxes are not always clearly marked and are in place for longer than just when polls are open on election day, resulting in the potential for a petition circulator to inadvertently violate the prohibition and incur a legal sanction.
“It’s important that we remember the first right reserved for the people in Nebraska — the right to petition their government — is sacrosanct and should be protected,” Conrad said, “and this helps to ensure that that can continue.”
A Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee amendment, adopted 43-1, replaced the bill with a modified version of the proposal. Among other changes, the amendment would:
• extend the deadline for delivery of election abstracts from counties to the secretary of state from the third Wednesday after the election to the fourth Wednesday;
• set the cost of a recount at $100 per precinct voting in the contest; and
• remove a provision relating to a change in filing deadline for submission of a school district recommendation or public petition to allow the district to exceed its property tax request authority.
The amendment also would add provisions of five additional bills considered by the committee this session, including the amended provisions of Omaha Sen. Bob Andersen’s LB884.
Those provisions would address ballot display and delivery and observation by poll watchers. It also would require delivery of ballots directly to a centralized location, prohibiting any stops other than at that centralized location.
As originally introduced, the measure also would have mandated use of the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program database, known as SAVE, for citizenship verification of voter registration. That provision was removed by the committee amendment.
LB927, also sponsored by Andersen, would prohibit the direct or indirect involvement of foreign nationals in funding and organizing ballot question committees in Nebraska.
The provisions would require certification that a ballot question committee was not funded by a foreign national and would prohibit non-U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents from engaging in preliminary activities, such as conducting polls or focus groups, making phone calls, drafting proposed language, sending or receiving email or traveling in connection with a ballot question.
Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha expressed concern that the language was too “broadly worded” and could prevent some legal residents from advocating for issues that matter to them out of fear of engaging in illegal activity.
She said Sanders had agreed to work on possible changes to the language before the next round of debate.
Also included in the committee proposal are provisions of:
• LB969, sponsored by Syracuse Sen. Bob Hallstrom, which would create a database of county and municipal financial information within the state Department of Administrative Services;
• LB1002, introduced by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, which would increase filing, application and noncompliance fees under the Political Accountability and Disclosure Act; and
• LB1074, sponsored by Sanders, which would revise unclaimed property statutes to clarify timelines, provide a tolling period in certain cases and create the Unclaimed Property Liquidation Proceeds Trust Fund.
Following adoption of the committee amendment, senators advanced LB1075 to select file on a 43-1 vote.
