OMAHA, Neb.—A new report gives Nebraska a failing grade on the integrity of its ballot initiative process.
The Washington, D.C.-based Ballot Initiative Strategy Center said in a report issued Thursday that most states that allow ballot initiatives are ripe for abuse, fraud and deception in the process.
“In recent years, in state after state, the integrity of the system has been increasingly undermined by a lack of standards, transparency, accountability, oversight and enforcement,” said Kristina Wilfore, director of the center, which researches initiatives and advocates against abusive ballot-measure processes.
Twenty-four states allow ballot initiatives. Nebraska was one of 13 states that got a failing grade in the report. Nine others received “D” grades from the center.
The liberal nonprofit group criticized what it sees as Nebraska’s lack of standards in the process, such as not allowing for public hearings on initiatives before signatures are gathered. It also targeted the state’s lack of transparency, noting that Nebraska does not require petition circulators to register with the state or prohibit those who’ve been convicted of fraud or forgery from working as petition circulators.
State Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Government Affairs Committee, said Thursday that he hadn’t seen the report. He said his committee already had commissioned a study of the state’s initiative and referendum process.
Lawmakers are set to have the results in hand by the next legislative session that begins in January.
“It’s a thorough and deep investigation,” Avery said. “I am sure we’ll have some recommendations for improvement in the process.”
Nebraska’s Constitution vests the authority to make laws in the state’s unique, one-house Legislature and, since 1912, in the initiative process. If citizens can gather enough signatures, they can have an issue placed on the ballot to change or create a law or amend the Constitution.
Nebraskans have voted on 64 petition initiatives since 1914, approving 23.
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