Nebraska
Contact the Citizen State Coordinator in your state to get involved protecting and expanding the initiative and referendum process. If you don’t see a Coordinator listed for your state, click here to apply.
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National Citizen Coordinator - Greg Schmid
Click here to email Greg.
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Arizona - Eric Ehst
Click here to email Eric
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California - Bruce Cohen
Click here to email Bruce
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Grassroots Director Brandon Holmes provides a new update on what local activists are doing to protect and expand the ballot initiative process throughout the nation.
Saying that only big-money groups are now able to gather enough petition signatures to put issues on the ballot, Omaha businessman Kent Bernbeck may launch a petition drive to lower the number of signatures needed.
Great news out of Nebraska, a vote to change how Nebraskans vote.
According to the Journal Star, a proposed ballot measure will allow the average voter to have a stronger voice in their state’s government.
Nebraskans could vote on whether it should be easier to vote ”” on ballot initiatives.
An Omaha businessman is pushing a plan to make it easier for Nebraskans to use their initiative process. Currently the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot is based on the number of registered voters. Under the new system, which is what most states use, the number would be based on the vote for governor.
The Fremont City Council has voted 5-1 to appeal a judges ruling that an immigration initiative does qualify for the ballot. The measure aims to curtail the hiring and renting of housing to illegal immigrants. The measure had enough petition signatures to qualify for the ballot, but city leaders claim the city doesn’t have the power to enact the law.
The Unites States Supreme Court denied Arizona’s request for an appeal in the case Nader v. Brewer. Last year the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona’s law requiring petition circulators to be state residents. Thirteen other states had asked the high court to overturn the decistion. Similar laws in Ohio and Oklahoma were invalidated last year in the 6th and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeal.
You have full Initiative & Referendum rights. Citizens can pass laws they write or suspend a statute passed by the Legislature by collecting enough petition signatures to place the statute on the statewide ballot for a decision by the voters. Voters can also initiate constitutional amendments by Initiative.
Coalition for an Open & Accessible Initiative Process:
Western Nebraska Taxpayers Association
Poll:
See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.
Nebraska’s legislature in 1897 became the first in the nation to pass a
bill allowing initiative and referendum - but only in municipalities, not on
the state level. This bill was the Sheldon-Geiser Act, sponsored by state
legislator A. E. Sheldon.
Once a sponsor has decided to begin an initiative
petition effort, the first step is to deliver, to the Secretary of State’s office, a
copy of the language that they want to see in the statutes or in the
constitution and the object clause for the petition. The object clause is a
brief statement of what the proposal will accomplish. The sponsor also
needs to provide a list of the sponsors of the petition at that time.
Date initiative language can be submitted: Any time
Signatures are tied to vote of which office: Number of registered voters.
A judge this week rejected a lawsuit that aimed to stop two tax-lowering ballot initiatives in the Mehlville Fire Protection District.
Mehlville resident Dennis Skelton sued the district’s board of directors, claiming the ballot measures were illegal.
The board of directors voted Jan. 23 to place two measures on the ballot for the April 7 election.
Did the hot-button issues of affirmative action and racial preferences come up in this election? It depends where you look.
Voters in Nebraska and Colorado weighed in on ballot initiatives to ban racial preferences. Those in Nebraska voted “yes” on the ban, following the lead of California, Washington and Michigan, which had approved similar initiatives. Those in Colorado voted “no,” making it the first state in the country to reject such a measure.
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Backers and opponents of a ballot measure to ban affirmative action in Nebraska presented opening arguments Monday on a lawsuit that seeks to keep the proposed ban out of the state constitution.
Opponents of Initiative 424 said the proposed constitutional amendment should be rejected because thousands of signatures on the initiative petition were collected through fraud and other illegal acts.