Sauder instrumental in writing election integrity bills
By Becky Uehling
Grant Tribune-Sentinel
Two years ago Melissa Sauder of Grant never would have thought she would be drafting bills for the Unicameral. However, today, that is exactly what she is doing.
Committee woman for Nebraska District 311 and the co-chair of the Election Integrity Sub-Committee for the Nebraska GOP, Sauder has helped draft three election integrity bills, LB 193, LB 457 and LB 230, that were introduced last week in the Unicameral. Sauder worked with Colonel Sean Smith from the non-partisan, non-profit group Cause of America election integrity organization in the drafting process.
“I was one of those people who didn’t get involved with politics, who thought someone else will handle it and make sure everything was running the way it should. Not anymore,” Sauder said last week about why she got involved.
Everything changed for Sauder after she became involved with election canvassing for the 2020 election in Perkins County. What Sauder and the group of local volunteers who conducted the canvassing found was that approximately 10 percent of voters in Perkins County received a ballot they did not request, and the ballots didn’t come from the county clerk’s office, Sauder said.
“They (the Perkins County Clerk) don’t know where the unsolicited ballots came from,” she said. “If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. That should be very concerning to everyone. ”
Sauder said making sure elections in the United States are fair and secure should be the top issue on every American’s mind. Without secure elections, the rest of the Republic falls, she said.
Sauder got active in the local Perkins County GOP, which she now serves as chairman, and dove straight into Nebraska politics.
As she became more involved, she noticed how the issue of securing the state’s elections were discussed, but very few people were stepping up to lead the charge in securing them, so she did it herself.
With the help from Col. Smith, who was instrumental in testing and securing the nation’s complex, computer-based military weapons systems United States Government, Sauder has a total of six election integrity bills drafted. Two of those bills have been accepted and introduced into the legislature, with Sauder working closely with other senators in hopes they will take up the other five.
The three bills of Sauders that have been accepted are as follows:
• LB 193, introduced by Senator Steve Halloran from Grand Island, would require all components in electronic voting machines to have been assembled in the United States. Currently the components in the voting machines across Nebraska are manufactured overseas, with the majority of them coming from China, Sauder said.
• LB 457, introduced by Senator Rick Holdcroft of Papillion and several co-sponsors, would require ballots to have anti-counterfeiting properties to make them as secure as our paper currency.
• LB 230, introduced by Senator Steve Erdman from Morrill, would require those voting in Nebraska, except the disabled and military personnel, to vote in person and to present a photo ID before voting.
Sauder said the time for people to stand back and watch government unfold from the sidelines is over. Americans who want to secure the country’s freedoms for themselves and future generations have to get involved now, she said.
“We cannot blindly trust that things will get done in the government in a way that is best for our country, we have to be relentless and not give up. Our freedoms depend on it,” she said.
Sauder asks all Nebraska voters to contact their senators and encourage them to support LB 230 and LB 193 as they make their way through the Nebraska Legislature. The main switchboard at the Nebraska Unicameral is (402)471-2788. To follow the bills that are traveling through the Unicameral, log on to https://nebraskalegislature.gov/.