Conservative group’s poll finds Nebraskans want photo ID and citizenship checks of voters

LINCOLN — Citizens for Voter ID, which led the ballot initiative last year to add voter ID language to the Nebraska Constitution, released results from a new poll Tuesday aimed at steering a legislative compromise on implementing voter ID farther to the right. 

Poll results indicated that a majority of Nebraska voters surveyed wants every voter’s photo ID checked, including those casting ballots by mail. The survey of 516 of the state’s likely voters was conducted May 2-4 by WPA Intelligence by cell phone and landline. Citizens for Voter ID paid for the poll. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.3%.

WPA Intelligence, a national firm, does a lot of polling for conservatives, including U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb. Ricketts’ family largely funded the petition drive and ballot measure campaign for Citizens for Voter ID, campaign finance records show. WPA also does local polling for Gov. Jim Pillen and U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb.

Pushing for ‘strong implementation’

Former State Sen. Dan Hughes took over the group after State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar resigned to focus on passing a bill to implement voter ID. Hughes said in a statement Tuesday, “Our citizens want a strong implementation of this concept.”

Slama and State Sen. Tom Brewer, who chairs the Government and Military Affairs Committee, have spent weeks negotiating a compromise voter ID bill that follows federal law, election case law and ballot language that 65% of voters approved.

On Friday, Slama told reporters the compromise language would likely allow people to vote using state ID cards, student ID cards and ID cards from nursing homes. She told KETV it would allow a witness to sign and vouch that they saw a voter’s ID, under penalty of law.

This week, Slama applauded her former organization’s push for a conservative voter ID bill. She said Nebraskans “spoke loud and clear at the polls in November and in this survey.” She thanked the group for ensuring the Legislature “follows through with the wishes of our voters.”

Questions centered on specifics

Many of the questions in the survey dug deeper into public opinion on the details of a potential compromise amendment, the text of which has not yet been released.  

In response to a question, 63% of those surveyed said they support having early voters provide photocopies of their ID if returning a ballot by mail or show their ID at county election offices.   

Voting rights advocates, including ACLU Nebraska, have argued that requiring a photocopy would put some voters at an unfair, if not illegal, disadvantage.

The survey indicated a majority of respondents oppose using expired IDs and allowing other items such as utility bills and paychecks as alternative forms of ID. However, based on legal rulings elsewhere, Nebraskans likely will be able to show expired IDs, and people with disabilities will likely be allowed to use other identifying documents, regardless of what state lawmakers want. 

Slama and Brewer have said the voter ID bill will set aside money to provide state photo ID cards for those without one. People with a religious reason for not being photographed would be exempted.

The poll also found a majority of those surveyed want the Secretary of State’s Office to check the citizenship of people voting, a step that happens already when people register to vote. Slama had pushed for additional checks as part of the voter ID bill. Brewer has said he wants to keep the bill focused on the initiative voters approved, on verifying IDs.

Poll timed to spur floor fight?

Political observers suggested the timing of the poll could be an effort to encourage a floor fight over Slama’s Legislative Bill 535. Speaker John Arch wants to avoid a floor fight on voter ID because of continuing filibusters.

Limiting voting by mail, which voting rights advocates have said any voter ID measure could do, tends to hurt Democratic turnout more in competitive states because Democrats vote more often by mail. But in Nebraska, rural and remote Republicans might be hurt more. Nebraska has 11 largely rural counties that vote entirely by mail. 

An audit of the 2022 election done for the Secretary of State’s Office found no instances of voter fraud.