OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Thousands of Nebraskans with felony convictions could be denied voting rights under an opinion from the state attorney general released Wednesday.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued an opinion that says a law passed earlier this year to immediately restore the voting rights of people who’ve finished serving their felony convictions violates the state constitution’s separation of powers. Only the state Board of Pardons can restore the voting rights of people with felony convictions through a pardon, Hilgers said.
Hilgers also found unconstitutional a law passed years ago that restored the voting rights of people with felony convictions two years after they finished all the terms of their sentences.
The opinion was sought by Republican Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen. Hilgers, a former speaker of the Legislature, had been critical of the most recently passed law, as has fellow Republican Gov. Jim Pillen and some Republican lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. Evnen, Hilgers and Pillen make up the three-member Board of Pardons.
Based on the opinion, Evnen issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying he has begun directing county election offices to stop registering people convicted of felonies who have not been pardoned by the Nebraska Board of Pardons.
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