'Respect Nebraska Voters' Initiative Submits Signatures to Appear on November Ballot
by Lewis Thune
(Picture credit Respect Nebraska Voters)
“Respect Nebraska Voters,” a group seeking to pass a constitutional amendment to limit the Nebraska Legislature’s ability to modify ballot petitions, announced Thursday that it had gathered over 186,000 signatures in its effort to put its constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
The petition was launched in November of 2025 and sponsored by Executive Director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha Jo Giles, former District 43 State Senator Al Davis, and Dawn Essink of Omaha.
“Respect Nebraska Voters turned in more than 186,000 signatures, representing every county in Nebraska, in support of our ballot initiative,” the group said in a statement Thursday. “Thanks to the hard work of advocates and volunteers across our state, we’re confident that we’ve submitted more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot this November.”
The group held a rally at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln on Thursday to celebrate submitting the signatures.
Proponents say that attempts by the Nebraska Legislature, controlled by a Republican supermajority that has modified previously passed ballot initiatives, are the motivation behind the new initiative.
The Respect Nebraska Voters website points to initiatives for marijuana, paid sick leave, and the raising of the minimum wage as three initiatives they believe the Legislature has violated the will of the people on.
In the first case, the Legislature has been criticized for not taking action to add regulations onto the initial initiative and in the last case the Legislature was criticized for changing the initiative by lowering the growth rate of the minimum wage and creating a second youth wage.
University of Nebraska Regent Barbara Weitz, the largest individual donor to the campaign, indicated she supported the initiative because of her frustration with the direction of politics in the state and nationwide. As reported by the Plains Sentinel in February, Weitz donated $500,000 to Respect Nebraska Voters.
“My gift was entirely motivated by my discouragement with some politics,” Weitz said. “I had to make a statement to say, ‘Enough.’”
Two Subjects?
Questions have emerged regarding the initiative from both Republicans and Democrats. Some Republicans have questioned the measure’s constitutionality while a couple of Democratic state senators have questioned whether its the right approach for progressives to take.
Democratic State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said in a Facebook post on Monday that she opposes the initiative because it would harm both Democrats and Republicans.
“If Respect Nebraska Voters gets on the ballot and is approved, it would make it harder to change any law passed by initiative petition - not just the laws we support, but all initiatives. The good, the bad, and the ugly,” she said. “That same higher threshold would also apply to legislation related to medical cannabis and to efforts to address problems in the current regulatory process - issues that, ideally, should not require legislative fixes in the first place.”
Constitutional worries stem from an additional provision in the petition, which would inhibit the Legislature from conditioning or restricting the ballot initiative process. Though this and its preceding provision both address the Legislature’s powers on initiatives, the two together in one single ballot initiative may be construed as two subjects – in violation of Article III, Section 2, of the Nebraska Constitution.
In a February 18 piece for The Plains Sentinel, former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg argued that if it were challenged in the Nebraska Supreme Court, the initiative would be ruled unconstitutional.
He said that the initiative fails the current test for assessing whether subjects are one or multiple, which is outlined in the 2024 Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. vs. Hilgers decision. The test says that if dual propositions have a “necessary and natural connection” with each other, they are of one “primary purpose,” and thus one general subject. Stenberg identifies two primary purposes, thus two subjects, in Respect Nebraska Voters’ petition.
“One purpose is to require the vote of 4/5 of the members of the Legislature to amend or repeal a law enacted by initiative. This is the amendment to Article III, Section 2 of the Nebraska Constitution. The other primary purpose is found in Article III, section 4, is to make it extremely difficult for the Legislature to change any law… concerning the operation of the initiative and referendum process,” he said.
Even if it did pass that test, Stenberg indicated that the 2020 decision State ex rel. McNally vs. Evnen shows it would be construed as “too broad a statement on the general subject,” and thus unconstitutional.
Pending signature verification, Respect Nebraska Voters’ petition will appear on the November ballot, where its fate will be decided by Nebraskans’ majority vote.
— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.