Watch the process of filling out and dropping off your early voting ballot in Nebraska.

Hundreds of eligible voters may have been mistakenly told that they can’t participate in the 2020 election because of problems with the handling of a Nebraska law requiring a two-year waiting period to restore felons’ voting rights.

At least 51 Nebraskans eligible and registered to vote received county letters saying they were ineligible to vote, Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska.

But the number of potential voters who received erroneous letters is most likely higher, ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad said, based on the ACLU’s reviews of the felons sent letters.

“It’s a perfect storm of confusion and errors in the system,” Conrad said of problems with calculating the two-year waiting period required for felons after they complete their sentences. “Unfortunately, we don’t know the impact that that perfect storm may have.”

Nebraska’s county election officials sent letters in recent years to about 6,000 felons suggesting that they were ineligible to vote based on the law. ACLU Nebraska reviewed half of those cases individually.

The ACLU flagged problems in nearly 300 of the cases and asked the state to review them. Some people were excluded for misdemeanors, instead of felonies. Others were booted from probation and excluded, a reason not meant by the law to keep someone from voting.

The Secretary of State’s Office, in its letter to the ACLU on Tuesday, confirmed problems with the ACLU-identified voters, including 105 people who were improperly told they couldn’t vote, although they weren’t registered.

Evnen’s letter said election officials would notify only the 51 people who were registered and told they couldn’t vote. It said the county letters ask the recipients to contact officials about any errors.

Evnen spokeswoman Cindi Allen said that more than 1.2 million Nebraskans are registered to vote and that the 51 voters in question have been “returned to the voter rolls.”

The letter from Evnen also mentioned that ACLU of Nebraska had sent information on voting in September to more than 9,000 people on the list or in county jails. It suggested that people vote provisionally if otherwise denied.

Voter advocates, including ACLU of Nebraska, argue that people tend to believe government officials writing to say they are ineligible to vote and that officials should correct their mistakes in writing.

They said they do not suspect county or state election officials of doing anything nefarious but said everybody involved wants the people who are eligible to want to vote to do so.

But because Friday is the deadline to register for the Nov. 3 general election in Nebraska, it may be too late to reach the people who might want to vote but were incorrectly told they can’t.

Omaha World-Herald Election Guide 2020

Conrad said those with questions about whether they can register to vote or vote this fall should contact their local election office, and should contact the ACLU if they have problems.

One person who stuck it out and voted despite the letter is Omahan Wally Wolff, 68, who finished his prison sentence in March 2017 for fourth-offense drunken driving and completed a treatment program.

He said he wouldn’t be deterred, especially not in an election year like 2020. He voted early and put his ballot in a Douglas County Election Commission drop box.

“I did it, and I’m happy I did it,” Wolff said. “A lot of men have served in our armed services, and they gave their lives so that I could have this privilege and right. You can make a difference.”

Nebraska is one of 11 states still requiring a wait to restore voting rights to felons. State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha has tried to eliminate that two-year wait.

Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2017 vetoed a measure from Wayne that would have restored voting rights for felons immediately after they completed their sentences. Ricketts said that most criminals who reoffend do so within two years and that waiting to vote might encourage better behavior.

Most research on criminal behavior has found the opposite — that the felons least likely to reoffend are those with the most connections to their community. Wayne has said voting is one such tie.

“I think that this is a case of an error-prone system and the law being confusing to implement for election officials and confusing to understand for members of the public,” Conrad said.

Our best staff images of October 2020

aaron.sanderford@owh.com, 402-444-1135

twitter.com/asanderford

Originally published on omaha.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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