State Lawmakers Working On New Voter Maps For State’s Districts

LINCOLN- Next week state lawmakers will hold three public hearings on how new voter maps should be drawn for the state’s 49 districts.

Good-government groups are urging state senators to protect the voting rights of all Nebraskans, and to be transparent about how data from the 2020 census is driving their decisions. Sam Petto with the A-C-L-U of Nebraska encourages voters to make their voices heard, because what might sound like a wonkish process will impact peoples’ lives for the next decade…

Hearings are set for Grand Island on Tuesday at the Central Community College; at the state Capitol building in Lincoln on Wednesday, and at Omaha’s Scott Conference Center on Thursday, September 16th. State lawmakers who are redrawing the state’s political boundaries settled on two sets of congressional and legislative maps on Thursday and braced for a wave of criticism that’s expected next week when they present the proposals to the public. Members of the Redistricting Committee endorsed both sets as a compromise between Republican lawmakers who favor one and Democrats who prefer the other. Eventually, committee members will have to vote on a single plan to submit to the full Legislature.

Sen. Justin Wayne, the leading Democrat on the committee, says lawmakers have no choice but to find a compromise because lawmakers are constitutionally required to redraw the maps every decade.