32-110. Elector, defined.

Elector shall mean a citizen of the United States whose residence is within the state and who is at least eighteen years of age or is seventeen years of age and will attain the age of eighteen years on or before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the then current calendar year.

Source

Annotations

1. Residence

2. Citizenship

3. Indians

4. Miscellaneous

1. Residence

Self-supporting students who regard the location of their school as their home may vote where the school is located. Swan v. Bowker, 135 Neb. 405, 281 N.W. 891 (1938).

Foreign railroad laborers, who were moved about as their work required, were not residents within the meaning of the Constitution and entitled to vote because the box cars in which they lived in inclement weather remained on a sidetrack within one precinct most of the four months that preceded an election. White v. Slama, 89 Neb. 65, 130 N.W. 978, Ann. Cas. 1912C 518 (1911).

As a general rule a minor cannot change his domicile before he reaches his majority, but a self-supporting minor, who has resided in this state for more than six months and who possesses the other requirements, becomes a qualified elector when he reaches his majority. Russell v. State, 62 Neb. 512, 87 N.W. 344 (1901).

Self-supporting students who regard the location of their school as their home and who have no particular future residence in mind, may vote where the school is located. Berry v. Wilcox, 44 Neb. 82, 62 N.W. 249, 48 A.S.R. 706 (1895).

Persons who were living on a temporary military post and had no intention to return to their former places of residence, and who possessed the other requirements, were qualified electors. State ex rel. Valentine v. Griffey, 5 Neb. 161, 31 L.E.2d 890 (1876).

2. Citizenship

Under the Constitution of 1875, a male person twenty-one years old and of foreign birth, who came to this country while a minor, did not become a qualified elector upon his father's declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States. Haywood v. Marshall, 53 Neb. 220, 73 N.W. 449 (1897).

An alien who came to this country while a minor, whose father later declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, who removed to the Territory of Nebraska in 1856, became a citizen of the United States and of Nebraska by the organic and enabling acts and the act of admission. Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, 143 U.S. 135 (1892), reversing State ex rel. Thayer v. Boyd, 31 Neb. 682, 48 N.W. 739 (1891), 51 N.W. 602 (1892).

Voting status under Nebraska law would presumably show United States citizenship. Beatrice Foods Co. v. United States, 312 F.2d 29 (8th Cir. 1963).

3. Indians

Indians to whom allotments of land had been made, and who possessed the other requirements, were prima facie qualified electors even though formal approval of their allotments had not been made and patents had not been issued. State ex rel. Crawford v. Norris, 37 Neb. 299, 55 N.W. 1086 (1893).

Indians who are not living apart from a tribe and who have not adopted the habits of civilized life are prima facie not qualified electors, and it must be shown that an allotment of land has been made to them before the legality of their votes can be established. State ex rel. Fair v. Frazier, 28 Neb. 438, 44 N.W. 471 (1890).

An Indian who was born in the United States as a member of a tribe recognized by the federal government, and who later took up his residence apart from his tribe, but had not been naturalized, or taxed, or recognized as a citizen by either the state or federal government, was not a citizen of the United States under the first section of the fourteenth amendment. Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94 (1884).

4. Miscellaneous

This section as amended applies to general elections only and does not prescribe the qualifications for school district elections or amend or supplement the school laws. Cunningham v. Ilg, 118 Neb. 682, 226 N.W. 333 (1929).