OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A Nebraska coalition is pushing for a constitutional change that would make it harder for state lawmakers to alter voter-led initiatives, submitting its petitions to the Secretary of State Thursday after roughly six months of signature gathering.
The group, Respect Nebraska Voters, wants to raise the threshold required for the unicameral to amend voter-passed statutes — from two-thirds approval to four-fifths approval.
To get the measure on the ballot, the coalition must submit more than 125,000 signatures collected from at least 36 counties.
Ballot sponsor Dawn Essink spoke with me one day before the signature deadline, and described the process of trying to gather that many signatures.
"You're right it does take a lot of energy and the older you get the more energy it takes. I think just having a strong belief that you want to make a difference in people's lives," Essink said.
Essink said the effort stems from a sense that the legislature has not been responsive to the will of voters on major issues. The coalition's website lists multiple statues that it says have not been carried out in the way voters intended. For example, paid sick leave, minimum wage increases, private school vouchers, and medical marijuana.
"If we felt like we had a majority of the senators that would support these initiatives we wouldn't be doing this," Essink said.
Not everyone supports the change. On Facebook, State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh cautioned that the state should not create a system where ballot measures are too difficult to amend.
"The Legislature must respect the will of the people. But we should not create a system where harmful, vague, or poorly written ballot measures become nearly impossible to ammend," Cavanaugh said in a post.
Essink said the coalition is confident heading into the announcement and is already thinking ahead to November.
"I don't know that answer because we've never allowed ourselves to think that way we feel like we are prepared for everything that might come after we announce this tomorrow from a legal standpoint and we know we'll have enough signatures… we talk about it as when this passes in November," Essink said.
After the petitions are submitted Thursday, signatures will be verified. Once that process is complete, it will be known whether the measure will appear on the November ballot. If approved, Essink says that the next big challenge for the coalition is convincing Nebraskans to vote come election season.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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