Nebraska Secretary of State Approves Medical Marijuana Initiative for the Ballot

August 31st, 2020 | Scott Miller

Secretary of State Bob Evnen says he anticipates that his decision approving ballot language for the medical marijuana initiative will be reviewed by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Evnen announced last Friday a sufficient number of valid signatures have been collected on petitions to put the measure on the ballot, the same day the Lancaster County Sheriff filed suit that the language did not meet state law.

“After careful review by our counties, I can confirm that the number and distribution of valid signatures submitted on the petitions meet the statutory requirements for placement of the initiative on the November general election ballot,” Evnen said.

At least 122,325 valid signatures were required to add the petition question to the 2020 general election ballot. Signatures of more than five percent of registered voters were collected in 48 of the State’s 93 counties. This meets the distribution requirement for counties for an initiative petition.

“Certified letters have been mailed to the sponsors notifying them of the results of the signature review,” added Evnen.

Evnen reviewed the language of the initiative the day before after he received a request to withhold the initiative from ballot based on a claim of legal insufficiency. “In determining that the language of the initiative is legally sufficient I did my best to follow the law, and I believe that I have done so,” Evnen commented.

Public hearings will be held in each of the congressional districts and a brochure about the initiative will be distributed to each of the county election offices. The dates and locations of district hearings will be announced later.

For more information about Medical Marijuana Petition, visit the Secretary of State website httts://sos.nebraska.gov.

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