Ricketts pushing voter ID after mom bankrolled effort

Seven months after News Channel Nebraska first reported that Gov. Pete Ricketts’ mom was bankrolling the statewide effort for voter ID, the governor is urging Nebraskans to vote for the measure in November.

Voter ID was officially added to the ballot earlier this month, after paid petition gatherers—paid almost single handedly by Marlene Ricketts’ initial $376,000 one-time, lump sum contribution—garnered more than enough valid signatures. (Since our original story, Ricketts' mom has contributed at least $1.5 million).

Nebraska's current and former Secretaries of State, the folks in charge of elections, have said there is no systemic vote fraud in the state, but the governor says that’s no reason to vote against Voter ID.

Gov. Ricketts: “You don't want to wait until you have widespread fraud before you start taking steps. Once you have corruption in your election system it is very difficult to get out. "

[View Ricketts' full comment above]

Ricketts says problems and questions with the 2020 election in other states are another reason to support Voter ID.

During a public hearing in 2021, the Democratic Party’s Preston Love made the case that voting in Nebraska and Douglas County is “at an all time-high" and that voters have confidence in the current system. ”If we keep persisting and implement an amendment for voter ID, some of the voters will lose their confidence,” said Love. “And so I say to you, think about and trust me, minorities and elderly people will be affected negatively, and the voting turnout will be affected negatively if we do voter ID."