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    • Medical marijuana, repeal of private K-12 scholarships cross threshold for Nebraska ballot • Nebraska Examiner
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    Medical marijuana, repeal of private K-12 scholarships cross threshold for Nebraska ballot • Nebraska Examiner

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    LINCOLN — Nebraska voters appear likely to vote on the legalization and regulation of medical marijuana in November, as well as the fate of a new “school choice” law, barring last-minute legal challenges.

    Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced the unofficial results Friday afternoon, with the certification process continuing into next month. However, Evnen confirmed that both ballot proposals had passed the required verification requirements and would be eligible for the November election once certification is complete.

    “Our office is providing this update to keep voters informed of where county election offices are in the signature verification process,” Evnen said in a statement. “Election workers are verifying each voter’s signature on the remaining petitions.”

    Candidates and issues must be certified by September 13 for the November 5 election in Nebraska.

    Medicinal marijuana

    Crista Eggers, statewide campaign manager for the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign, center, answers questions from reporters at the conclusion of the 2024 petition signing campaign. Eggers is joined by her husband, Easton, and sons Carsten, 11, and Colton, 9, from left. July 3, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    Crista Eggers, campaign director for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, said her team was “extremely excited” for Nebraskans to have their say on the issue.

    “Today is a very, very big day, not only for the people behind this effort, but for the individuals in Nebraska, the patients in our state, who have been fighting for so, so long,” Eggers told the Nebraska Examiner. “We’re going to enjoy this, but we know we still have a road ahead of us.”

    The campaign is personal for Eggers, whose son, Colton, has epilepsy and severe seizures. When Eggers picked up Colton from elementary school on Friday, he asked her the same question he’s been asking almost daily for years: “Do we have enough signatures for the drug?”

    His mother’s response: “Yes, buddy, we did.”

    The campaign began in 2019 when Eggers and two senators at the time, Adam Morfeld and Anna Wishart, both of Lincoln, went to the polls after legislative efforts stalled.

    Crista Eggers, campaign manager for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, hugs her son Colton, moments after telling him the campaign has collected enough valid signatures to go on the November 2024 ballot on Friday, August 30, 2024. Colton has epilepsy and severe seizures, and the six-year campaign has been personal for Eggers. (Courtesy of Crista Eggers)

    In 2020, the campaign failed to reach the ballot box after the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that legalization and regulation were separate issues. Opponents of an abortion rights measure on the November ballot are making similar arguments and are urging the high court to rule against that effort in the same way.

    In 2022, Nebraskans for medical marijuana did not collect enough signatures, so the group returned in September 2023 with two petitions in hand: one for regulation and the other for legalization and protection of patients and doctors.

    In July the campaign was submitted more than 114,000 signatures for each of the two petitions.

    Eggers said she and her team are “prepared for any challenges that may arise,” including potential legal challenges once the initiative is certified.

    Initiative petitions require valid signatures from at least 7% of Nebraska’s registered voters (approximately 86,500), including at least 5% of voters in at least 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.

    More than 89,000 signatures have been verified for the two petitions in 51 provinces.

    Scholarships for private schools

    The other measure likely to be considered is a partial withdrawal of Bill 1402 from Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, who appropriated $10 million to the state treasurer to provide scholarships or vouchers to families to attend private K-12 schools.

    The ballot measure is supported by the Nebraska State Education Association, the state teachers union that has banded together with other advocates under the name “Support Our Schools.”

    Tim Royers, president-elect of the Nebraska State Education Association. July 17, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    Tim Royers, who becomes union president on Sunday, said advocates will not stop working until the measure is on the ballot and voters approve it.

    “We are grateful for the hard work of all the county officials who did so much to verify the signatures as quickly as possible, and we look forward to the official announcement that we will be on the ballot,” Royers said in a statement.

    Public school advocates have argued that Nebraska’s establishment of a voucher program for private K-12 education poses long-term risks to the state funding available for public schools. In other states, the programs have quickly grown to tens of millions of dollars.

    In July the campaign was submitted more than 86,000 signatures for the petition. Many of the measure’s supporters expressed frustration that the Legislature had revised the original Tax Credit Exchange Act, forcing them to gather signatures again.

    Support Our Schools launched a campaign in the summer of 2023 to repeal Linehan’s first new “school choice” law: LB753The group’s petition initiative had qualified for the November 2024 vote until LB 1402 was passed. The new law was intended to repeal and replace LB 753. As a result, Evnen determined that the repeal of LB 753 would not appear on the November ballot.

    Linehan said she and the voucher program’s proponents will continue to fight “liberal billionaires” and “unions who want to dictate where your kids go to school.”

    “They will do everything in their power to prevent families from having freedom over their own children’s education,” she said in a statement. “Opponents of educational freedom will lie, cheat, and spend countless millions to control education in Nebraska.”

    Senators Lou Ann Linehan and Justin Wayne flank Governor Jim Pillen after he signed LB 753, the Opportunity Scholarships Act, on May 30, 2023. (Courtesy of the Nebraska Governor’s Office)

    Jeremy Ekeler, director of Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska, one of the groups already working with students seeking help to attend private elementary and secondary schools, said it would be “devastating” to end the program.

    “Opponents of educational freedom cannot prevent Nebraska families from choosing the school that is best for their children,” he said. “The momentum for school choice continues to grow in Nebraska and across the country.”

    Both sides have been preparing for possible lawsuits for months. In private, people for and against the voting measures said they saw the foreign minister’s announcement as a possible trigger for last-minute legal action against the measures.

    Referendum petitions require valid signatures from at least 5% of Nebraska’s registered voters (approximately 61,750), plus a 5% voter requirement in at least 38 counties.

    So far, more than 62,000 signatures have been validated in at least 57 countries.

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