NORFOLK - Nebraska Senator John Murante is pushing once again for stricter voter identification laws.
Three bills introduced by the Gretna senator were heard by the Unicameral’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday.
Murante says his bills would require photo identification in order to vote, require the secretary of state to provide identification cards and require the secretary of state to check the citizenship status of registered voters.
“I believe that on election day, every single voter needs to prove that they are who they say they are and that they live where they say they live,” Sen. Murante said during a stop to Norfolk on Friday. “We as legislators have a responsibility to ensure that no illegal voting occurs in the state of Nebraska.”
A recent survey of ten election commissioners in eastern Nebraska done by News Channel Nebraska showed that they overwhelmingly don’t think new voter ID laws are necessary, with some saying they don’t feel new laws are necessary.
But Murante isn’t swayed.
“Putting in basic safeguards for the security of our elections is something we need to be pursuing,” Murante told News Channel Nebraska. “The truth is, over 35 states in this nation have enacted voter ID laws. Every country in the western world has some form of voter identification, because they understand that having basic protections in place does not turn a single person away from the polls.”
Murante’s bills received opposition Thursday from groups that said the proposed law would burden those with disabilities, and discourage some from voting at all.
A similar effort by Sen. Murante to pass voter ID laws failed to overcome filibuster last year.
