Candidates to lead Nebraska elections split on Pillen ballot initiative proposals

A third candidate said the system in place works, but the state's executive branch must stop stonewalling ballot initiatives its leaders disagree with. 

Pillen, at a press conference on Thursday, announced he would pursue a bill to ban paying per signature collected, shifting the state to hourly pay for signature gathering instead. The "bounty" system, he said, incentivizes aggressive tactics and perhaps dishonesty.

Signatures collected for statewide and local petition drives are under additional scrutiny after several efforts were rejected over allegedly falsified signatures. Authorities have arrested six circulators for a set of Lincoln city charter ballot initiatives that some conservative groups sought. 

Evnen voiced support for Pillen's proposal while also commending election officials for upholding security and noticing the issues with this year's petition efforts. Pillen is running for reelection against Democrat Lynne Walz, America First's Brett Lindstrom and Legal Marijuana NOW's Rick Beard.

Nebraska leaders call for ballot petition reforms after fraud arrests

Because he lost the May GOP primary, Evnen will not be the election official to help Pillen usher new petition-adjustment bills through the Legislature.  

The next Nebraska secretary of state will be Scott Petersen, the Republican who beat Evnen, Democrat Sarah Slattery or America First nominee Bob Krist. 

Petersen and Slattery said they would support a bill ending pay-per-signature. Krist, a former state lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate, said he would not. 

Changing mindset

Krist is a new entry into the race. He was a Republican for most of his tenure as a state lawmaker and ran for governor as a Democrat in 2018. He joined the newly formed America First party as officials organized in recent weeks and officially became the party's nominee for secretary of state on Tuesday.

"This is not a bounty system," Krist said in a phone call Friday. "It's a small business. It's a viable business. Those people go out and get petition signatures, and what they're getting from the people who want to put the petition forward is payment for what they do."

He said the petition system works, noting that county and state election officials caught the alleged bad actors. 

Krist said he disagrees with Evnen over the need to change the payment system for collecting signatures, though he has supported most of Evnen's work and would have stayed out of the race had he won his primary.  

Krist criticized Pillen for pursuing a legislative change to the initiative process while he has slowed carrying out voter-approved policies, particularly the 2024 ballot initiatives to legalize and make accessible medical cannabis — 71% of voters supported legalization and 67% supported a proposed regulatory framework.

What to know about America First, Working People Party candidates joining Nebraska ballots

"Why have they not moved — the legislative branch and the executive branch — on that initiative?" Krist asked. "If I were the secretary of state, I would push very hard for them to approve the legislation, because any petition needs to be enabled with a piece of legislation."

Krist said the secretary needs to be mindful of the people being a partner with the Unicameral: "We need a secretary of state that is going to be apolitical. No politics involved, do what's right by the Constitution and push the second house." 

Lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to allow the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to collect funds and hire staff, but changes to support access and protect medical professionals who recommend cannabis did not pass.

Pillen has approved regulations but voiced his opposition to medical cannabis. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers also has sought to dismiss the laws due to fraud found among collected signatures, calling the initiative "the most corrupt, the worst-run, poorly executed, most disrespectful of the voters in the state of Nebraska petition that I've ever seen."

Nebraska Supreme Court rejects legal challenge to medical marijuana

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled against Hilgers's suit. "Today’s ruling confirms that the voices of the people cannot be erased by political obstruction or legal maneuvering," said Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana Director Crista Eggers. 

Major parties agree

It's not often Republicans and Democrats agree these days, but the Democrat Slattery and the Republican Petersen called Pillen's proposal a good one.

Slattery, early in her campaign, said Nebraska needed new guardrails for ballot initiatives because she felt Nebraskans could be harassed by signature gatherers. 

"I think it has progressively gotten worse or more intense over the last few election cycles," she said Thursday, referring to circulators' tactics. "I think we saw it kind of come to a head with the fraudulent signatures on the Lincoln petitions and just everything that's come about." 

She said a new policy could rebuild public confidence in government. "I want Nebraska voters to feel like the state is looking out for them and their protection against some predatory signature gathering tactics," she said. 

Petersen said in a post on social media site X that the paid-per-signature system creates bad incentives and draws outside circulators to Nebraska. 

"Recent investigations, rejected signatures and arrests demonstrate why we need to take this seriously," Petersen said. "I support restoring Nebraska’s prohibition on paying circulators by the signature. I also support stronger circulator requirements, better accountability and meaningful consequences for anyone who knowingly falsifies signatures or affidavits."

He called the reforms commonsense and commended Pillen and Evnen for bringing them forward. 

Takes on security

Petersen has set himself apart from Evnen, Slattery and now Krist with his opinions on the need for additional election security in Nebraska. 

Evnen has called the state's election security the gold standard. Petersen criticized him for not doing enough to demonstrate quality and safety and to restore public confidence in elections.

"The system is a mess," Petersen said in a call Friday. He said all the ballot initiatives and investigations create chaos, which further erodes confidence. 

In his primary campaign, Petersen said he would audit machines and systems more aggressively and change the state's mail and early voting procedures. He has highlighted investigations of fraud in other states and FBI Director Kash Patel's promise that indictments over election fraud were coming.

He pledged to work proactively with lawmakers and county election officials to strengthen the petition process, enforce laws and support counties' ability to verify petitions. 

Krist commended election officials for their vigilance while reviewing signatures. He said state government can tweak its processes to improve, but he said it would be impossible to stop all potential fraud through policy. 

"No system or process is absolutely perfect. Somebody's going to find a way to make it imperfect. So, a constant attention to detail needs to be applied to the current system," he said. 

Slattery said her confidence in election integrity has grown in recent months as she's visited election offices to learn more about how they work. She compared Douglas County's operation to Fort Knox and commended smaller operations, where one or two employees verify all the signatures gathered in their county. 

"The system is working," she said. "But I think that if we get some better training and regulations and rules on the front end and on signature-gathering, then it's going to make the job of verifying the signatures easier on the already overworked county election offices." 

Along with changing the payment system in ballot initiatives, Evnen said legislation may include requiring circulators to be U.S. citizens, barring felons from circulating and requiring training for petition circulators.

Nebraska's general election is Nov. 3.