For possibly the first time in Nebraska history, two conflicting petitions regarding abortion access have been certified for the November general election ballot and will appear side-by-side.
The Secretary of State’s Elections Division confirmed Friday, signature requirements have been met for both of the following petition campaigns:
- Protect Our Rights – guarantees the right to an abortion in the state constitution until the point of fetal viability, which is typically between 22-24 weeks gestational age. This broadly mirrors Nebraska’s abortion law prior to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision in 2022.
- Protect Women and Children – limits access to abortion beyond 12-14 weeks gestational age, and leave the door open for further restriction by state lawmakers. Generally, this would further enshrine current law in the state’s constitution.
“Barring any legal challenges, this November general election ballot will host two ballot measures that appear in direct conflict with each other, which could be the first time this has happened in Nebraska’s history,” said Secretary of State Bob Evnen in a statement.
Evnen also released the ballot language for each measure:
Protect Our Rights
A vote “FOR” will amend the Nebraska Constitution to provide that all persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability is defined as the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient’s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
A vote “AGAINST” will not amend the Nebraska Constitution in such manner.
Protect Women and Children
A vote “FOR” will amend the Nebraska Constitution to provide that, expect when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.
A vote “AGAINST” will not amend the Nebraska Constitution in such manner.
Ballot Rules
For a ballot measure to pass according to Nebraska law, it needs more “For” votes than “Against” votes and must receive at least 35% of the total votes cast at that election to be in favor of the measure.
If conflicting ballot measures receive enough votes to pass, the ballot measure that receives the highest number of “For” votes will prevail to the extent of the conflict. The Governor is responsible for determining whether there is a conflict.
Petition “Scoreboard”
Both petitions collected more than 136,000 valid signatures from Nebraska voters statewide. Pursuant to Nebraska law, county election offices stopped counting signatures for each petition after they exceeded 110% of the necessary valid signatures.
Protect Our Rights qualified 47 counties with valid signatures from at least 5% of registered voters. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office received 14 affidavits from individuals who requested that their names be removed from the Protect the Right to Abortion petition.
The Protect Women and Children qualified 86 counties with valid signatures from at least 5% of registered voters. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office received 312 affidavits from individuals who requested that their names be removed from the Protect Women and Children petition.
November Bound
The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office will hold public hearings on these ballot measures in each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts, as well as produce an informational brochure about the ballot measures. The dates and locations of district hearings will be announced at a later date.
There are now three ballot measures approved so far for the November general election: Paid Sick Leave, Protect the Right to Abortion and Protect Women and Children. The State’s Elections Division is still processing the remaining initiative and referendum petitions: Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Initiative, Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Initiative and the Private Education Scholarship Partial Referendum.
The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office must certify the November general election ballot by September 13. All petitions will be processed and announced before that date.