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Battle Joined In NE Courts Over Voting Rights For Felons

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the legal blows it has taken, are central to the current political fight over voting access.
Kaz Fantone for NPR
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the legal blows it has taken, are central to the current political fight over voting access.

Nebraska's Supreme Court has heard arguments in a lawsuit that challenges election officials’ refusal to restore the voting rights of those who’ve been convicted of a felony. A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union asked the court on Wednesday to order Secretary of State Bob Evnen to follow a law passed this year allowing those with felony convictions who've completed the terms of their sentence to vote. Before that, those residents had to wait two years after completing their felony sentence terms to register to vote. Last month, Evnen declared both laws unconstitutional based on an attorney general's opinion he had sought.