If you or someone you love has a conviction in Nebraska and is looking for relief, this guide covers the pardon process and the important context of a 2024 voting rights law that changed what a pardon is needed for. Nebraska's Board of Pardons is composed of three statewide constitutional officers: the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State. This makes Nebraska one of only a handful of states where no single officer holds unilateral pardon power. The Board requires a majority vote to act, expects ten years of a clean record for felony applicants, and does not consider claims of innocence or review the legal proceedings of the underlying case. For most people, a pardon is primarily about employment barriers, professional licensing, jury eligibility, and firearms rights. Voting rights after a felony conviction are now restored automatically under Nebraska law following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that upheld LB20, though this area of law remains contested. I have been through the system myself, and most of the fear comes from not knowing how the process works. So let me walk you through it in plain language. None of this is legal advice, and every case is different, so treat this as a map and lean on a lawyer for the turns.
What Nebraska offers: the forms of clemency
Nebraska's Board of Pardons is established under Article IV, Section 13 of the Nebraska Constitution. The Board has the authority to remit fines and forfeitures and to grant respites, reprieves, pardons, and commutations in all cases of conviction for offenses against the laws of Nebraska, except treason and cases of impeachment.
A pardon is an act of forgiveness that does not erase or expunge the conviction but restores civil rights lost due to the conviction and removes most collateral consequences of the conviction under state law. A commutation of sentence reduces or modifies a sentence for someone currently incarcerated. A respite temporarily delays punishment, and a remission reduces or waives fines and forfeitures.
Who decides: the Board of Pardons
Nebraska is one of a small number of states where the Governor does not act alone on clemency. The Board of Pardons consists of the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State, all sitting together. The Governor serves as chairperson and the Secretary of State serves as secretary and keeper of records. A majority vote of the Board is required for any action, meaning at least two of the three members must vote in favor.
This structure means that all three statewide elected officials are involved in every pardon decision. No single officer can grant a pardon alone; all three must participate and at least two must vote in favor. The Board of Parole may advise the Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State on the merits of any application, but this advice is not binding on any of them. All actions of the Board of Pardons are filed in the office of the Secretary of State. The Board has unfettered discretion to grant or deny clemency for any reason or for no stated reason, and its discretionary decisions are not subject to ordinary due process review.
Who is eligible for a pardon in Nebraska
Eligibility for a pardon requires completion of the full sentence and a clean record for a defined period afterward.
For felony convictions, applicants must have ten years of a clean record after the completion of the sentence. For misdemeanor convictions, applicants must have three years of a clean record after completion of the sentence. During the waiting period, any contact with law enforcement or additional convictions will restart the waiting period clock.
The Board does not consider claims of innocence and does not review the legal proceedings of the underlying case. An applicant cannot use the pardon process to relitigate the conviction, challenge the evidence, or raise procedural errors from the trial. The focus of the Board's review is entirely on the applicant's post-sentence conduct, rehabilitation, and the concrete reasons why a pardon is specifically needed now.
The application process step by step
Step one: obtain the application. The official pardon application and its instructions are available at pardons.nebraska.gov. The application can be submitted by email to ne.pardonsboard@nebraska.gov or by mail to Nebraska Board of Pardons, PO Box 95007, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509. The Board's phone number is (402) 540-2906.
Step two: gather all required materials. The application requires a signed and dated pardon application form. An Authorization and Release Form must be signed, dated, and notarized; this is a separate document from the application itself and cannot be overlooked. Additional materials include a background check conducted on the applicant, documentation confirming payment of all fines and fees associated with the conviction (outstanding financial obligations will undermine an application), a personal statement explaining the applicant's history since conviction and why the pardon is sought, and character reference letters from people who can speak credibly to the applicant's rehabilitation and community conduct. Failure to submit all required documentation will render the application incomplete; the applicant will receive a 30-day notice to provide missing materials, and incomplete submissions slow the process significantly.
Step three: submit the application. Applications are reviewed in the order received, and the wait from submission to a hearing date can be years. The Board reviews each application and may conduct further investigation as it determines appropriate before scheduling a hearing. The Board's inquiry focuses on post-sentence conduct and the specific reasons the pardon is needed.
Step four: the public hearing. Hearings before the Board are public. Applicants may attend and bring supporters. The Board may ask questions to clarify facts in the application or to confirm the applicant's remorse. The Board focuses on post-sentence conduct and rehabilitation, not on relitigating the underlying case or the factual questions of guilt or innocence.
Step five: Board vote. A majority vote of the Board (at least two of three members) is required to grant a pardon or other clemency. The Board has unfettered discretion to grant or deny clemency for any reason or for no stated reason.
Voting rights in Nebraska: the LB20 development
Nebraska's voting rights landscape changed significantly in 2024. Under LB20, which the Governor allowed to become law without his signature on April 17, 2024, voting rights are now restored automatically upon completion of a felony sentence, including parole. Before this change, there had been a two-year waiting period after sentence completion. Before that, a pardon from the Board of Pardons was the only path to having voting rights restored at all. LB20 removed the waiting period entirely, making automatic restoration upon sentence completion the current law. A pardon is no longer required for most people to have their voting rights restored.
The implementation was contested: Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued an advisory opinion in July 2024 arguing that LB20 was unconstitutional because only the Board of Pardons could restore voting rights under the Nebraska Constitution. The Secretary of State then directed county election officials to stop registering people with felony convictions. In response, the ACLU filed suit directly in the Nebraska Supreme Court. On October 16, 2024, the Nebraska Supreme Court issued an order directing election officials to implement LB20 immediately, holding that the constitutional challenge had not been established. Three of the court's seven justices dissented. The law is currently in effect, but the underlying constitutional question has not been fully resolved.
The practical takeaway: for most Nebraskans with felony convictions who have completed their sentence including parole, voting rights are currently restored automatically under LB20 and no pardon is required for that purpose. The exception is treason, which results in permanent disenfranchisement unless pardoned. The constitutional question around the Board of Pardons' exclusive authority over civil rights restoration remains contested, and the dissenting justices in the October 2024 ruling would have reached a different result, but the Supreme Court's order directing implementation of LB20 means the law is currently in effect.
What a pardon does and does not do in Nebraska
A Nebraska pardon forgives the conviction and restores civil rights lost due to it, including eligibility to serve on a jury, eligibility to hold public office, and removal of state occupational licensing and employment barriers imposed by the conviction. The pardon documents this forgiveness in the official record. A pardon does not erase or expunge the conviction from the criminal record; the conviction remains visible on background checks. Nebraska has a set-aside process (§ 29-2264) for probation-only convictions, which is a separate remedy available through the court that issued the sentence. For people who were incarcerated rather than placed on probation, the set-aside process is not available, and the pardon is the primary executive remedy.
Firearms rights are not automatically restored by a pardon. Under Nebraska law, when a pardon for a felony conviction is granted, the Board of Pardons may empower the Governor to expressly authorize the person to receive, possess, or transport a firearm. This authorization by the Governor must be express and separate from the pardon itself; the pardon alone does not restore firearms eligibility. An applicant seeking firearms restoration must specifically request it and the Governor must explicitly grant it in the empowerment order.
Nebraska has a separate set-aside process under § 29-2264 for people who were sentenced to probation rather than incarceration. A set-aside differs from a pardon: it is issued by the sentencing court, not the Board of Pardons, and does not require the ten-year waiting period or the multi-step Board process. The set-aside order includes a notice that voting rights have been restored, and it includes information about the pardon process for restoration of other civil rights. For people who received probation-only sentences, the set-aside is worth exploring with an attorney before pursuing the lengthier pardon process.
A note on federal convictions
If the conviction is a federal conviction, the Nebraska Board of Pardons and the Governor of Nebraska cannot help you. Federal clemency is granted by the President of the United States, and applications go through the Office of the Pardon Attorney within the United States Department of Justice. The federal and state processes are entirely separate.
Where this leaves you
Nebraska's ten-year waiting period for felony applicants is among the longest in this series, matching Maryland's standard for felony convictions. For most people, the ten-year clock does not begin until the sentence, including parole, is fully completed, and any contact with law enforcement during that period restarts it. The practical implication is that someone released from parole in their thirties may not be eligible to apply for a pardon until their forties, and the application-to-hearing timeline can add years on top of that. The reward for patience is a hearing before three constitutional officers, a public proceeding where you can bring supporters, and the opportunity to present a full case for why the pardon is needed. Prepare a strong personal statement, gather credible character references, pay all outstanding fines and fees before applying, and be specific about the practical reason the pardon is needed. The Board takes applications in the order received and processing can take years, so applying as soon as eligibility is established is the right timing. Voting rights are currently restored automatically under LB20 for most felony convictions, so the pardon process is most important for people seeking to restore jury eligibility, remove occupational licensing barriers, hold public office, and address firearms rights. For firearms specifically, remember that the pardon itself does not restore firearms rights; it empowers the Governor to expressly authorize restoration, and that express authorization must be separately requested and granted.