Now that the deadline passed last week for initiative supporters to turn in signatures, the real work begins to determine whether each signature is valid.
Five petitions were turned in by the deadline last Wednesday, including two on medical marijuana legalization and two opposing initiatives for Constitutional Amendments on abortion.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen says with 100s of thousands of signatures to check, it will be a while before we know if each or any of the initiatives make the November ballot. “So, all these petitions that have been signed will be sent to the relevant counties for signature verification. And the counties have 40 days to do that,” said Evnen. “After the counties have concluded their signature verification, they send it back to us. We count the number of valid signatures, and then, we make an announcement about what’s qualified and what hasn’t.”
Of note, supporters of the effort to place the EPIC Option consumption tax constitutional amendment before voters did not turn in signatures.
Supporters of the proposed referendum to repeal LB-1402, a Nebraska State Education Association-led effort through the group Support Our Schools Nebraska, have until the end of business July 17th to turn in their petition signatures.
