LINCOLN- Late last week, state Sens. Julie Slama and Tom Brewer sent outlines of a new voter ID proposal to the Legislature's bill drafters, leading many to believe that a compromise on the contentious bill has been found. The new proposal, an updated version of Sen. Slama's LB535, which would require voters to present a valid ID before casting a ballot, clears up three areas previously considered cloudy and vague.

The areas addressed by the new proposal include which types of ID would be accepted, how and when the state would verify the IDs of voters using mail-in ballots, and whether the bill would add additional checks on every voter's immigration status. Slama announced that the new bill would allow for the use of state ID cards, student ID cards, nursing home IDs, as well as expired IDs, which were prohibited in the initial draft of the bill.

The bill also allows witnesses to sign and vouch that they had seen a person's photo ID after an individual fills out and seals a mail-in ballot. These witnesses, under the new proposal, could be held liable if found to have lied. The final bill will also not add any additional checks to verify a voter's citizenship status. Sen. Brewer stated that he expects to hold an executive committee meeting to address the new language, and believes the bill should be ready for debate by mid-May.

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