Nebraska is being sued over a state election law that allows certain individuals who have never resided in the state to vote in its elections.
The lawsuit challenges a 16-year-old state law that allows an individual to vote in the state if they are a U.S. citizen and have a parent registered to vote in Nebraska.
In some cases, someone who has never resided in the U.S. nor registered to vote in the U.S. could vote in Nebraska, according to the lawsuit.
The Republican National Committee and two Nebraska voters filed the eight-page complaint Monday in the Lancaster District Court. The complainants include Lancaster voters Jack Riggins and Pamela Dingman, who assert that the law conflicts with the residency requirements established in the Nebraska Constitution.
“Nebraska’s Constitution is clear, voters must live in Nebraska,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement.
However, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said the lawsuit is against the children of military families and Americans working overseas, “who are, per our Constitution, Americans too.”
“This lawsuit says those young people wouldn’t be allowed to vote,” she said in a statement. “Republicans are so blinded by their radical ideas that they’re willing to kick a soldier’s kid off the voting rolls. This is all part of a national strategy to erase rather than earn votes.”
A 2009 federal election law at the core of the litigation aimed to “implement the requirements of the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act,” which was signed into law in 2009 by former President Barack Obama.
It allows members of the armed forces, overseas citizens and those residing outside the country to cast a ballot, a bill that “streamlines and reorganizes the current provisions in law dealing with ballots for members of the armed forces and overseas citizens.”
The Nebraska legislature followed up by changing the registration requirements, resulting in the provision now challenged in court.
“This law tries to get around that requirement by allowing people who have never lived in the state to vote,” Mr. Gruters said. “The RNC is fighting to stop it and ensure Nebraska elections are decided by Nebraska voters only.”
Requesting an expedited decision, the suit asks the court to rule that part of the Nebraska law is unconstitutional and order Secretary of State Robert Evnen not to provide ballots to individuals who vote under the provision.
Similar lawsuits succeeded in other states.
A Superior Court judge in North Carolina sided with the RNC on June 9, ruling that so-called “never residents” cannot vote in any North Carolina election.
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