3 ‘Good Government Lincoln’ petitions fail to qualify for November ballot

Three Lincoln petitions failed to qualify for the November general election ballot.

In filings to the City Clerk’s office, Lancaster Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen said his office rejected nearly 20,000 signatures. That’s roughly 6,500 signatures per petition.

Good Government Lincoln turned in over 1,600 petition pages with more than 30,140 signatures – twice the number of total signatures needed for the measures – on July 21.

Each petition needed roughly 5,000 verified signatures to get on the November ballot.

The petitions aimed to create three charter amendments for the City of Lincoln. The efforts are part of the Good Government Lincoln group, run by former state tax commissioner and state Sen. Tony Fulton. Fulton didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Others listed on the ballot question committee registration are Jessica Flanagain, a political consultant and former advisor to Gov. Jim Pillen, as well as GOP consulting firm Axiom Strategies’ Daniel Bass and Zoe Ganzman.

One of the petitions hoped to expand voting to certain residents outside of Lincoln – specifically to residents living within the three-mile area surrounding Lincoln. That petition received 9,280 signatures with only 3,284 signatures accepted as valid.

Another petition aimed to realign the timing of city elections to have them occur in statewide election years. That received 10,180 signatures, with only 3,609 accepted as valid.

And the third petition sought to place term limits on Lincoln City Council members. It received 10,104 signatures, with only 3,506 being valid.

Good Government Lincoln said it plans to gather signatures again to try to meet a deadline of Sept. 1.

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird opposed the Good Government Lincoln petitions and encouraged Lincolnites to not support them.

Gaylor Baird’s campaign team told Nebraska Public Media News on July 21 that the petitions were a “a direct attempt to rewrite the rules of our local elections, shorten my final term in office, and weaken the voices of taxpayers who actually call Lincoln home.”

The conservative group leading the petition efforts is tied to the dark money nonprofit Restore the Good Life that funded the Fairness For Girls ballot question initiative.

Restore the Good Life contributed $135,000 to Good Government Lincoln, according to filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.