LINCOLN — Two proposals with competing visions for the future of voting in Nebraska show some differences between how the two major political parties approach voting regulations. Both state constitutional amendments were heard Thursday in the Nebraska Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. One, from a Democrat, would lower the voting age to 16 from 18. The other, from a Republican, would tweak the state constitution to say only U.S. citizens can vote in elections, which is already a requirement.

Dona-Gene Barton, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who studies political behavior, said the amendments offer a glimpse of how some Democrats and Republicans, at the state and federal level, view voting regulations. As an example, she pointed to recent bills in the GOP-led statehouse, which is officially nonpartisan. Voting-rights advocacy organization Civic Nebraska said the age-lowering proposal from Democrats “strengthens democracy” and questioned the GOP proposal’s new language on citizenship as unnecessary, saying it risks reinforcing “misinformation.”

Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen described the GOP proposal on citizenship as “important,” while the Government Committee’s GOP majority questioned the value of the Democratic proposal for lowering the state’s voting age.

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