Lincoln city attorney says Good Government Lincoln petitions won’t be on November ballot

A battle is brewing between the city of Lincoln and the state over three petitions seeking to change the way Lincoln conducts elections.

Lincoln City Attorney Yohance Christie announced Thursday that the Good Government Lincoln group did not turn in petitions in enough time for the city to put them on the ballot.

“Good Government Lincoln has resubmitted charter amendment petition signatures after the August 7th announcement of signature fraud,” Christie said in a statement. “The Election Commissioner has verified that two of the petitions have met the required number of valid signatures. At the time of this statement, the third petition has not yet been verified.”

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said in a social media post Thursday night that he has "filed an action with the (state) Supreme Court" to defend Lincolnites' rights to vote on the charter amendments in the November election.

On Monday, Hilgers sent a letter to Lincoln City Council members, urging them to place the three petitions on the November ballot. He went on to say he’d consider legal action to “ensure that Nebraskans residing in Lincoln can exercise their constitutional right to vote on proposed amendments to the Lincoln City Charter this November.”

His letter included a response time of 5 p.m. Thursday, saying if the city didn’t respond he’d assume those petitions wouldn’t be on the ballot.

Hilgers also released an opinion at the request of Sen. Beau Ballard, who previously proposed a bill this past legislative session that would allow some people living outside Lincoln to vote in city elections. That’s one of the three proposed petition amendments. In his opinion, Hilgers said Lincoln has no “discretion to impose additional procedures that would delay such a proposal to a subsequent election.”

Following Hilgers’ letter and opinion, Lincoln City Council Chairman Brodey Weber put out a press release Thursday morning criticizing the attorney general, saying he “inappropriately” intervened in Lincoln’s Charter Amendment process.”

Christie said the City Council is under “no obligation to bypass their processes for placing petitions on the ballot because of a missed deadline.”

He said the two petitions verified will be on the next general election ballot in May 2027.

There’s a Sept. 1 deadline to get petitions added to the ballot. It starts after a petition gets roughly 5,000 verified signatures — that’s 5% of registered voters in the previous governor’s race.

Once the election commissioner verifies those signatures, the City Council has to confirm the placement of the amendments on the ballot. That happens through a council resolution for the proposed amendments or possible alternatives. A committee reviews the amendments and it is placed in the hands of City Council, where it goes through two meetings and there’s a public hearing with a council vote. To meet the Sept. 1 deadline, the city would have to suspend its rules and confirm the petitions with only one meeting.

Two petitions have been approved for the second time, with 5,628 signatures verified for the petition hoping to add term limits for the City Council, and 5,568 signatures verified for the petition aiming to move Lincoln’s local elections to be held in statewide general election years.

After Good Government Lincoln turned in signatures the first time, over 13,000 were rejected by the Lancaster County Election Commission due to suspected fraud.

Seven paid circulators were arrested in connection to the suspected fraud. The circulators charged were connected with the On the Ballot, LLC, which is connected to Vanguard Field Strategies, a subsidiary of Axiom Strategies.

The group, led by former state tax commissioner and state Sen. Tony Fulton, also works with Axiom Strategies. The GOP consultant firm has three sponsors listed on petitions, Jessica Flanagain, Daniel Bass and Zoe Ganzman.

Those petitions, along with four statewide petitions, are currently under investigation due to suspected fraud.