The winding road to restoring voting rights for Nebraskans with felony convictions
By Kassidy Arena , Senior Reporter Nebraska Public Media News
Oct. 30, 2024, 2 p.m. ·
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The Nebraska legislature passed a law in April allowing anyone who completed a felony sentence to register to vote. Previously, they had to wait two years.
The shift allowed Jason Kotas to register two months earlier than he planned.
“I was just happy that more of us were going to be able to get our rights restored,” Kotas said. "So I was just going to be able to register a couple months earlier in July, rather than September."
But the day before the new law was to go into effect, Attorney General Mike Hilgers opined the law was unconstitutional. That same day, Secretary of State Bob Evnen told election commissioners anyone with a felony conviction would not be able to register unless pardoned, disregarding both the immediate voting rights law and the two-year wait period.
“It kind of took the wind out of my sails for the excitement of it, which is part of this whole human experience, too," Kotas said. "I don't think people really understand, like, the emotional roller coaster decisions can have in people's lives."
Kotas said he probably would have voted for Hilgers at one point, which added to his shock.
“I don't know what's in that guy's heart, but it just felt real shitty. Just did. It felt like there's still people out there that just don't want us to matter,” he said.
Several others didn’t want Evnen’s direction to stop them from participating in this year’s election, including Gregory Spung.
“Voting isn't a right, but it's actually a moral duty that we have, because if we don't participate in the system, then it kind of takes off on its own and does whatever it wants,” Spung said. “So we have a moral obligation to participate in the system and keep it accountable.
That’s why he and two other plaintiffs decided to bring the case to the ACLU of Nebraska. Attorney Jane Seu presented the case in Nebraska’s highest court. She argued for a writ of mandamus – basically for the Supreme Court justices to make the Secretary of State perform his legal duty.
“As far as a writ of mandamus, I don't think we've seen sort of the unilateral action to refuse the law based on his own determination of constitutionality before,” Seu said. “In that case, we felt it was important to get before the court as quickly as possible so that voters could get registered before this year's election.”
In a split decision, the majority of the Supreme Court justices agreed with Seu. Two justices dissented, citing the law’s constitutionality.
Nine days ahead of the in-person voter registration deadline and two days before the online registration deadline, Nebraskans with completed felony sentences were allowed to register. That close deadline was also prevalent in the published opinion and something Spung started to worry about.
“I was starting to lose hope, but pleasantly surprised because I did expect them to rule in our favor eventually, because it's just the way things are being interpreted nowadays is that every voice counts,” he said.
Spung registered online.
In a written statement, Attorney General Mike Hilgers said his office appreciated the Supreme Court's consideration of the case and is grateful the decision came before the election.
“They did the right thing,” Kotas said. “I'm happy. I'm more happy for them just getting it right, and more people are going to be able to plug into this process and just get one more piece of their humanity back, their dignity.”
In a recent poll project conducted by Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling, many Nebraskans said that felons should have the right to vote after their sentence has been served.
At 50 years old, Kotas will vote for the first time on Tuesday.
“My brother-in-law called me right away and said, ‘Seeing you on the news, voting is a big deal, man, I'm proud of you,'" Kotas said. "You know, my dad is super proud of me… like he not only hugged me, but initiated a hug,” he said.
Kotas was born and raised on a farm in Saline County with his two sisters. He was 18 when he first went to prison. Kotas said his felony convictions were related to years of addiction and alcoholism. He got clean while incarcerated and graduated in the first cohort of RISE’s reentry program in the Omaha Correctional Center.
Kotas now gives back to his community and his program as a community navigator with about 40 people on his caseload.
He and his wife Jodie will vote in person together on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Kotas knows who he’s most likely voting for, but there are more Nebraskans still waiting for their opportunity. Jason Witmer works as a policy fellow for the ACLU of Nebraska in an office with big windows overlooking the state’s capital. He will complete his probation next December. But with the hope of voting on the horizon, his outlook on civic engagement has changed.
“Especially now I'm very aware of how much I just completely dismissed all the 'who you're voting for and what you're voting for,' other than just the big figures in the office,” Witmer said. “Just getting involved in seeing other people vote and getting the ability back, has made me start looking into, you know, how these things work, how the government works a little bit more.”
That led him to look at elected officials through a more critical lens.
“During this election year when we have a lot of questionable stuff going on, and there's that fear, and to see the Supreme Court come out and say, ‘Yes, this is the law and we need to enforce it,’ is a sigh of relief, and to have more faith that there's people in the government that are like, we're doing the right thing, regardless of what else is going on in the political environment,” he said.
Witmer plans to register to vote for the first time immediately after his sentence is completed.
It’s this kind of hope that can change the country’s voter engagement, according to David Ayala, executive director of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement, a national network advocating for criminal justice reform.
“The research shows that restoring voting rights, you know, facilitates successful reentry into society for formerly incarcerated people,” he said. “It also reduces the recidivism rate…because of feeling like you're a part of something. You know, you feel empowered again, and you don't want to let people down once you have that connection.”
Kotas has seen the reduction in recidivism rates firsthand and how it helps formerly incarcerated people feel a bit more hope.
“The impact it has is anytime that we can infuse more hope into people's lives, that's a positive thing, and that's what this really does. It gives just a little more hope that I can be a part of again,” he said.
Nebraska joins 39 other states in reenfranchising voters with felony convictions.
This decision opens the polling places for more than 7,000 estimated new voters in the state, with that number expected to grow as more Nebraskans complete their sentences. Neither Kotas nor Witmer believe it will have a significant impact on one party over the other, but they do support a more active democracy.