The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, February 05, 1996, Page 6, Image 6

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Senators debate mall-in votes
By Erin Schulte
Staff Reporter
As the campaign season inches to
ward November, the Nebraska Legis
lature continues to
Legislature
•96 A
debate a measure
that would allow
voting bv mail-in
ballot.
The Legislature
debated but took
no action on the
bill Thursday, and
it passed an
amendment that
- couia maice man
in voting in special elections possible.
LB964, introduced by Sen. Jim
Cudaback of Riverdale, would al
low registered voters to mail in votes
for special elections in communities
with fewer than 5,000 residents. It is
intended to resemble absentee vot
ing.
An amendment to the bill, intro
duced by Sen. DiAnna Schimek of
Lincoln, would open mail-in voting to
communities of any size.
This is an era of change, Cudaback
told the Legislature, and change ap
plies to voting procedures, too. Com
puter voting will be standard one day,
he said, and the Legislature should not
be afraid to move toward that change.
And Cudaback said more voters
might participate in special elections
if they had the convenience of mail-in
voting.
Senators opposing the amendment
said there were possible problems with
allowing mail-in voting in any size
city.
“We have no idea whether it’s a
good experiment or not,” said Sen.
David Bernard-Stevens of North
Platte.
Another possible problem with
mail-in votes was that people could be
influenced by door-to-door campaigns
that try to convince people how they
should vote.
“If I have received a ballot at home,
what ?s to keep people interested in the
issue from coming to my door to tell
me how to vote?” Bemard-Stevens
said.
Schimek said this would not be a
problem, citing voter apathy as a big
ger issue.
“I think-we’re raising all kinds of
ghosts and goblins, and it’s not even
Halloween,” Schimek said.
Fraud was another concern to leg
islators. This could be in the form of
name-forging or using someone else ’ s
ballot.
Cudaback said forging should be
even less of an issue than with regular
polling because handwriting samples
would be compared on the mail-in
votes, and this is not done using regu
lar polls.
Special election ballots are not in
danger of fraud as much as candidate
election ballots would be, he said.
Sixteen other states now use mail
in voting, Schimek said.
Events celebrate black history
By Joy Ludwig
Staff Reporter
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln
committee has organized events to
help the campus
Black i
History
Month
community honor
African-American
heritage during
February for
Black History
L Month.
^ Gregory Will
iams, education
specialist for Af
rican-American
siuaies in me mi
nority assistance program and a com
mittee member, said students should
get involved and recognize the great
contributions that were made before
them. V*
“Many people played an important
role in laying down a foundation and
going through some humility in order
to make history,” Williams said.
That line of thinking influenced
Carter G. Woodson, who is the “Fa
ther of Black History,” to start Negro
History Week in 1926.
But it wasn’t until 1976, during
America’s bicentennial celebration,
that the Association for the Study of
Afro-American Life and History
helped expand the observance of Black
History Week to the month of Febru
ary.^
The expansion provided more time
for activities focusing on African
American contributions, Williams
said.
“But one month cannot really hold
everything we have done and the roles
that we have played in building the
United States,” he said. “Black his
tory is every month.”
But Reshell Ray, coordinator of
ethnic minority programs in Student
Involvement, said the planned events
still would give students an opportu
nity to “learn and grow by immersing
oneself in another culture.”
Ray said planned events would
allow for discussion of different is
sues that cross racial lines. These
events also should bring students
together.
Besides attending the scheduled
events, Bryant Farmer, president of
the Afrikan People’s Union, said stu
dents should read up on the history
and culture written by African-Ameri
can authors.
“I think it is important to make the
younger generation aware of what their
ancestors have done to benefit them
and to keep that idea going,” Farmer
said.
And by keeping that idea alive,
Williams said, America someday will
be able to celebrate black history all
the time.
% On Monday, a video showing,
"Black Issues," at the Culture
Center, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
% On Tuesday, video/discussion
of "African-American Women's
Contribution to History" at the
Culture Center, 7 p.m. to 9 p m.
% On Thursday, "Linking the
Campus and the Community"
lecture at the Culture Center 6
p.m. to 8 jj.m. Caribbealf jazz ^
concert at UNL Crib 8 p.m. to
11 p.m.
^ On Saturday, jazz concert at
Kimball Hall, 8 p.m. to 9:30
p.m. *
% On Sunday, Pre-Valentine's Day
Dance at Huey's, 245 N. 13th
St., 8 p.m.
Computer helps victims spot criminals
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
The days arc gone in which a hand
ful of possible suspects walk into a
bright room and stand in a line facing
a two-way mirror to be identified.
The Lincoln Police Department
now uses a digital lineup to help wit
nesses and victims identify criminals,
said Gene Rauscher, coordinator of
the department’s identification lab.
A computer keeps digital “mug”
r
photographs of all people taken into
police custody, Rauscher said.
It can instantly retrieve photographs
based on a person’s physical features,
such as approximate age, height,
weight, race, hair color or eye color,
he said.
A witness could use a vague de
scription to narrow the set of pictures,
Rauscher said, and then scan each
mug, even at magnification, to find a
perpetrator.
Officers used to scan 200,000 pho
tographs on huge reels of film*
Rauscher said.
The computer makes suspect
searching quicker and easier, and the
money saved will pay for the system in
five years, Rauscher said.
The state spends $25,000 to
$30,000 each year on film and devel
oping costs for the photograph mug
system.
The system soon will be integrated
with a new state computer to match
fingerprints, Rauscher said.
Powell
Continued from Page 1
On her campus visit, Powell said
she was impressed with UNL and
with Lincoln.
“It’s a very comfortable and tra
ditional campus, very excellent,”
she said. “The students here are like
students I’ve been involved with in
all my years.”
But visiting the Midwest was
nothing new to Powell.
Powell grew up in Illinois, and
received her bachelor of science
degree from Western Illinois Uni
versity. She also spent eight years
at the University of Wyoming and
lived in Kansas for four years.
She visited UNL two years ago
for an affirmative action institute,
and she said she liked what she saw.
“I was so impressed with UNL,”
Powell said. “After 20 years in af
firmative action, I thought it was
nice to work in an institute that had
that high of a level.”
If she is chosen, Powell will be
joined in Lincoln by her husband,
Merton. She has two sons who are
now engineering professors.
UNL chancellor James Moeser
will choose the new director. The
two candidates interviewed last
month were Alan Comedy, special
assistant to the vice president for
university affairs at the University
of Northern Colorado, and
Hermenia Gardner, affirmative ac
tion director and assistant to the
president at Amherst College.
Powell said she was ready to
return to the Midwest and make a
difference at UNL.
“We need to work together, with
minority students and student
groups, to find concerns that need
to be resolved.”
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