LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — Less than three weeks before the issue of legalized gambling would officially go on the ballot, Secretary of State Bob Evnen halted it.
He says he received a series of complaints that the ballot language is misleading, forcing gambling advocates to scramble to file a lawsuit.
“He sat on these complaints for 16 days essentially leaving us a really small window of opportunity to follow a lawsuit,” says Cheryle Power, with Keep the Money in Nebraska.
Evnen says he found all three initiatives to be legally insufficient in some capacity.
“The petitions do not contain a single issue, they are required to contain a single issue.”
In the first initiative that legalizes expanded gambling in the state constitution, he says voters instead would have to decide on both legalizing gambling and allowing it only at racetracks.
Cheryle Power with Keep the Money in Nebraska, says they chose race tracks since gambling already goes on there.
“This way of making the casinos available at racetracks means the footprint of gaming at racetracks has not been expanded,” says Power.
Evnen also says it could be perceived to allow expanded gambling on Indian lands. But power says state residents can’t decide what’s done on tribal lands.
“Nothing in state constitution law can even begin to touch Indian gaming, that is a federal law,” says Power.
Evnen found issues with the other two initiatives too.
One would set up the governmental structure around gaming, the other would determine how it’s taxed.
Evnen says tax aspects are mixed into both and that it would lead to voter confusion.
The taxing initiative also calls for much of the money to go to property tax relief, which he says has no connection to the expansion of gambling and is a separate issue.
Wednesday afternoon the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed to take the case, with oral arguments set for next week.
“We’re putting our faith in the legal process and hopefully it rules in our favor,” says Power.
