The Nebraska requirement that petition initiatives receive signatures of 5 percent of registered voters in 38 counties will be allowed to be enforced when organizers turn in their signatures Thursday.
According to a news release from the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, “the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted the State’s request to place a stay on the preliminary injunction entered by the trial court on June 13th. The trial court’s decision prohibited the State from applying Nebraska’s multi-county signature requirement, which requires ballot initiative sponsors to obtain signatures from 5% of the registered voters in 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
“The Eighth Circuit’s ruling means the State can now apply its multi-county requirement when signatures are submitted tomorrow. The Eighth Circuit will fully address the legal issues at a later date.”
Following the issuance of the preliminary injunction, ACLU of Nebraska attorney Jane Seu issued a statement saying “Today’s decision is a setback but not the end of our case. We were very encouraged by the earlier ruling in this case and we continue to feel confident. At every turn, state officials have tried to maintain the unconstitutional multi-county distribution requirement, but the constitutional standards clearly favor our clients. We are ready for whatever comes next and we will continue making our case until we can earn a permanent victory.”
ACLU of Nebraska’s statement said litigation will continue as the groups seek a permanent injunction overturning the provision, and if the groups are ultimately successful in their case, it is possible that campaigns could still qualify for the November ballot so long as they collected enough total signatures, even if they did not meet the multi-county distribution requirement.
