OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – According to Douglas County officials, 50 percent of voters now choose to vote by mail, and on average, 75 percent of all ballots are returned in secure drop boxes located across the county.

Election Commissioner Brian Kruse told members of the Douglas County Board that, if passed, LB 541 would change the way Nebraskans vote, eliminating online voter registration, restricting registration by mail, and requiring voters to give a reason for voting early.

“There’s only three state in the nation where you have to have an excuse [to vote early]: Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire,” Kruse said. “And Mississippi has some legislation now to eliminate that. I also think it’s worth pointing out that both major candidates from both political parties for president not only embraces early voting, but ran campaigns that they spent millions on to get their voters out to vote early across the nation.”

Kruse also mentioned that reducing the number of early voting days like LB 541 suggests is basically an unfunded mandate.

“If we were to move from 35 [days] to 22, you have to do the same amount of work in a lot less days,” Kruse said. “We estimate that for last fall’s election, we would have had to hire 22 additional employees. It would have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Other provisions in the bill would require hand-counting of ballots to combat voter fraud, which Kruse says is not a serious problem in Nebraska.

“I think the bottom-line to this bill is what problems we are solving, and I don’t think there’s any question that its taking a lot of rights away from voters,” Kruse said.

Members of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners believe the bill and its changes aren’t necessary in Nebraska.

“If I had an opportunity, I could pound the heck out of this bill,” said commissioner Mike Friend. “I could take eight hours to rip this to shreds, and the lawyers better come in and convince me we’re trying to solve a problem, because this is just regulatory restraint.”

Other commissioners echoed Friend’s comments.

“This seem to me to be the latest in a long line of voter suppression efforts by people who aren’t interested in getting the highest vote total we can possibly get, and that should be all of our goals,” said commissioner James Cavanaugh.

Commissioners ultimately voted 7-0 to oppose LB 541.

“The question was asked, ‘Where did this come from?’” said commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson. “Well, look across the country. I mean, seriously, all this is is people throwing out misnomers, untruths about voter fraud.”

Kruse told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, the Election Law Committee for Commissioners and Clerks Association, and the Nebraska Association of County Officials to oppose LB 541. Lancaster County and Hall County commissioners also voted to send a message opposing the bill.

The hearing for LB 541 is scheduled for March 5.

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