Election study considered
Despite dying in committee, four proposed Nebraska election integrity bills (LB 1121, 1123, 1181, 828) have generated such overwhelming concern from the public they spurred the Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs (GMVA) Committee to consider an interim study on the subject, according to District 43 Sen. Tom Brewer, chairman of the committee.
“The (committee) senators’ emails have been flooded this year with questions about election integrity and people wanting to make sure that their vote is being counted and not washed out by any issues,” said Brewer’s Administrative Assistant Michael Ferguson.
According to Ferguson, “Enough Nebraskans believe there are issues (with our elections). We don’t know if these issues are correct or not because we haven’t seen enough data. That’s what the point of the interim study would be is to look and see if there really are problems.”
The subject of election integrity in the United States has gripped the nation since November 2020, with many Americans believing there are real issues with election fairness. These concerns have spurred many to start urging elected officials to take a closer look at America’s elections system, and specifically at America’s electronic election machines.
Ferguson said some of those who testified during the committee hearings on the bills on March 2 will most likely be invited back to provide more data during the interim study hearing. Those invited will be at the discretion of the chairman.
Several issues were brought up during the committee hearings by various people. Two of those testifying during the hearings were retired Air Force Colonel Shawn Smith and Dr. Douglas G. Frank. Both men were sponsored by the grassroots group The Nebraska Guardians. One of the leaders of the group is Melissa Sauder of Grant.
Colonel Smith retired recently with more than 25 years of active duty in space and missile operations in the Air Force and has immersed himself in studying and understanding the election system of the United States.
Dr. Frank earned a Ph.D. in Surface Electroanalytical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1990, and has accumulated approximately sixty peer-reviewed scientific publications. He also teaches advanced math and science at the Schilling School for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was during a project with his students that Dr. Frank started studying the 2020 election and became aware of what he believes is several problems with the outcome.
The Nebraska Guardian’s group has worked closely with Dr. Frank for nearly a year, bringing him to Nebraska a total of three times for various community events.
Some of the potential issues presented by Frank and Smith during the hearings include the following: questions concerning the countries the state’s voting machine’s software was manufactured in; supply and auditing processes of the system; Voter ID authenticity; sources of votes counted during elections; questions why votes counted in Nebraska do not reconcile with the number of votes counted on the official 2020 general election; among several other issues.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen also spoke during the hearings refuting the issues raised by those testifying.
“(Nebraska Secretary of State Bob) Evnen has said there are no issues with the election systems in Nebraska. But, there are people in the state that do not have faith in that statement,” Ferguson said. “The idea of the (interim) study is to ask questions, see if enough evidence can be produced on both sides, and then, with that evidence, produce legislation that will address any issues.”
The GMVA Committee hasn’t officially introduced the study yet, Fergusen said. Discussion, however, is underway in the committee. If the study is introduced, it will be done before the last few days of the 60-day session, which ends on April 20. The study will take place in the fall of 2022, he said. Testimony during the study will be open to the public.
For more information, logon to the Nebraska Legislature’s website at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/ or contact Sen. Brewer’s office directly at http://news.legislature.ne.gov/dist43/. Senator Brewer can be reached by phone at (402) 471-2628, or email him at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov