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Nebraska Legislature opens 109th session as network outage disables electronic voting; members adjourn until Feb. 7
Summary
On the first day of the 109th Nebraska Legislature, the chamber's electronic voting network failed, forcing senators to signal presence by hand and prompting a temporary recess; a motion to adjourn until Feb. 7 passed.
The Nebraska Legislature convened for the first day of the 109th Legislature in the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber in Lincoln on the morning of the session, but the chamber’s electronic voting and board display systems were rendered inoperable by a network outage.
The presiding officer (listed in the transcript as “Mister President”) announced that the network was down and instructed senators to let the clerk know their presence by raising a hand because “Your buttons will not work and the board will not show,” the presiding officer said. The presiding officer later signed Legislative Resolution 34 while the chamber remained technically able to transact business.
The legislative clerk (listed in the transcript as “Mister Clerk”) told the chamber the legislature would “stand at ease until 10:30” while staff assessed the outage and that committee hearings scheduled to operate later in the day would continue with audio recording rather than the usual networked system. The clerk said members’ committee hearings would operate off the recorder and that transcripts would be produced.
With the network still unreliable, Senator Dorn moved a priority motion to adjourn the body until Friday, Feb. 7, at 10:00 a.m. The motion carried; the presiding officer declared the legislature adjourned after a voice vote. The transcript records senators responding to the motion with “Aye” and no recorded roll-call outcome beyond the presiding officer’s announcement.
Why it matters: The outage disrupted the chamber’s standard electronic processes for recording presence and votes and required staff to revert to manual and audio-based procedures for the morning’s business. The clerk’s announcement that transcripts would be produced indicates the legislative record will rely on audio-backed transcriptions for hearings and proceedings affected by the outage.
The session also included routine ceremonial recognition and committee scheduling while staff worked to restore full network functions; the presiding officer and clerk said they would reevaluate the chamber’s readiness at 10:30 and proceed as appropriate.
