Secretary of State celebrates local election officials in finalizing Nebraska’s fall 2024 ballot • Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — Secretary of State Bob Evnen has officially finalized Nebraska’s fall 2024 ballot with six ballot measures advancing to the Nov. 5 general election.

Evnen said county election officials faced upwards of 600,000 signatures to verify this summer across six different petitions, each garnering enough valid signatures by Friday’s final deadline.

“We have met that time frame because our counties put the pedal to the metal and did a great job confirming these signatures,” Evnen said at an afternoon news conference.

The certification also confirms candidates for various offices — U.S. president, members of Congress, Nebraska Legislature, State Board of Education, University of Nebraska Board of Regents, Public Service Commission, community college governing boards, natural resources districts, public power districts, educational service units and reclamation districts. 

It also confirms the list of judges and justices up for retention.

Medical cannabis signatures

An investigation continues, as announced Friday by Attorney General Mike Hilgers, into what he and Evnen said were “infirmities” or “irregularities” in the signature-gathering process for two ballot measures related to medical cannabis. 

Evnen declined to specify what irregularities might exist, and Hilgers did not outline them.

Hall County officials charged a Grand Island man, who was a paid circulator for those efforts, with a felony for allegedly falsifying at least 200 signatures across the two petitions. Evnen said his office will continue to cooperate with Hilgers.

Evnen said that even though the ballot is certified, the Nebraska Supreme Court could take up a challenge to the marijuana-related petitions, or any others. He’s said that happened in Nebraska history up to four days before an election, as well as after voters had weighed in, that invalidated ballot measures.

“The fact that we had a hard stop and certified the ballot today doesn’t mean that nothing further is going to happen with respect to the investigation of the signatures in the medical cannabis initiatives,” Evnen said.

Evnen also confirmed what the Nebraska Examiner reported earlier in the day from Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet that any invalid signatures, including those from the man charged with a felony, were tossed.

“They were flagged as fraudulent and rejected and not counted toward those totals from the get-go,” Overstreet said Friday morning.

Evnen said there “may” be irregularities in other counties. But when asked by reporters whether he had heard from county election officials other than Overstreet, Evnen said he had not.

The medical cannabis petitions are also being targeted in a separate lawsuit from John Kuehn, a former state senator and former State Board of Health member. The case in Lancaster County District Court has not been scheduled.

Other legal challenges

Dueling abortion measures make ballot, Nebraska Supreme Court decides

Three other ballot measures also faced legal challenges but the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected them Friday morning. Those measures were on two separate constitutional amendments related to abortion and a partial repeal of a state-funded program to cover private K-12 school costs. Evnen said he doesn’t expect further signature-related challenges on those.

Evnen celebrated the court’s “speed and dispatch” in delivering decisions for cases filed before the court within just the past few weeks.

Multiple justices had questioned whether the court could take legal challenges sooner in the process, not just after Evnen had certified the measures for the ballot. Some of those deadlines are set by federal or state law, and others are constitutional in nature.

Nebraska Supreme Court lets voters decide fate of school choice law

The secretary said he is looking at whether there can be a way to ease up the timeline. Currently, signatures are due four months before an election and counties must verify the petitions within 40 days of receiving them. The ballot must be finalized 50 days before the election.

Evnen said he also intends to follow the advice from Chief Justice Mike Heavican and Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, the court’s two longest serving members, that once a secretary of state determines the legal sufficiency of a measure, it can’t be rescinded.

Hilgers, on Evnen’s behalf, said Evnen had changed his mind but would respect the court’s decision but might decertify the measure if the court tossed the lawsuit on a technicality.

“The opinions that the court handed down today are well reasoned and well articulated,” Evnen said.

2024 ballot measures

Evnen certified six ballot measures for the Nov. 5 general election ballot, which were assigned a measure number between 434 and 439 at random.

• Protect Women and Children — Prohibit abortions after the first trimester or pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, in the Nebraska Constitution. Future restrictions would be allowed. (Measure 434)
• Private Education Scholarship Partial Repeal (Legislative Bill 1402) — Repeal the $10 million scholarship program, enacted earlier this year, that the state treasurer oversees to distribute to students to attend K-12 private schools. (Measure 435)
• Paid Sick Leave — Enact a new state law that would require businesses with 20 or fewer employees to fund at least five paid sick days each year for full-time employees. Larger businesses would need to annually fund at least seven sick days per full-time employee. An hour of sick leave would be earned after every 30 hours worked. (Measure 436)
• Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation — Define cannabis; legalize possessing, manufacturing, distributing, delivering and dispensing cannabis for medical purposes; and create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to oversee the new state law. (Measure 437)
• Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection — Set an allowable amount of medical cannabis at five ounces; exempt patients and caregivers from using or assisting someone else in using the cannabis; and require a written recommendation from a health care practitioner prior to prescription. (Measure 438)
• Protect the Right to Abortion — Codify a right to abortion in the Nebraska Constitution until “fetal viability” as determined by a health care provider, with a later exception for the mother’s health. (Measure 439)