Lincoln voters approve housing income discrimination ban, send incumbents back to City Council

Lincoln is set to become the first city in Nebraska to enact a ban on source of income discrimination for housing.

As of Tuesday night's unofficial final results, 25,450 votes were cast in favor of the addition to Lincoln's municipal code, while 13,216 were cast against.

The measure would prohibit landlords from refusing to accept tenants based on how they pay rent. Currently, some properties don't accept Section 8 vouchers or other government benefits like social security. The question was added to the ballot after the Lincoln for Fair Housing coalition turned in more than 15,000 signatures in February.

"We totally understand the the rights of landlords to make a profit on their on their property," said Steve Smith with Civic Nebraska, a nonprofit that has supported the measure. "What we are working against, however, is the the sort of baked in discrimination of being able to deny - turn away - a potential renter, a potential excellent renter, because of a legal source of income."

He said the result of Tuesday's election is one way to address the affordable housing crisis in the city.

“It is a big step forward for Lincoln to do this and lead in Nebraska," he said. "I know that other cities and the state are watching this vote very closely to see how it goes."

A bill in the Nebraska Legislature would ban the practice statewide, but it has not advanced out of its legislative committee.

Lincolnites also elected three City Council members, four School Board positions and a spot on the Airport Authority.

Six candidates were competing for three at-large seats on the City Council, which makes local laws and decides which projects are funded through the city budget. The race is officially nonpartisan, so party affiliations do not appear on the ballot, though the three incumbents are Democrats and three challengers are Republicans.

As of Tuesday evening, it appears incumbents Tom Beckius, Bennie Shobe and Sändra Washington will retain their seats, while challengers Maher Aurang Zeb, Jerry Shoecraft and Stan Parker have come up short.

Based on the unofficial final results, Washington leads with 22,736 votes, followed closely by Beckius with 22,418 votes and Shobe with 21,113. Parker is in fourth with 18,301 votes, while Shoecraft has 17,904. Aurang Zeb received 6,977 votes.

Washington, the current council chair, said she ran for reelection because she feels there's more she can do.

"I'm very engaged in what's happening right now, with the flood plain work that we're working on, infrastructure improvements," she said. "Those are the things that really motivate me."

Beckius said he's looking forward to building on the success the city has had during his last four year term.

"I think at the end of the day, people think that this city's a great city, as do I, and I think we're on the right path, and I think that's what voters are ultimately responding to," he said.

Shobe said he hopes to help make the most of the quarter-cent sales tax continuation for road projects Lincoln voters approved last month.

"I think we're doing good directions right now on the housing and roads," he said. "The residents let us move forward with roads, with the quarter cent sales tax, so I look forward to pressing a little bit harder on that."

Democrats also swept the Board of Education elections, though, like the City Council, the office is nonpartisan and party affiliation does not appear on the ballot.

In District 1, John Goodwin had 2,746 votes and John Cartier had 1,372 votes based on Tuesday night's results.

In District 3, incumbent Barbara Baier had the lead with 2,007 votes while challenger Seth Duncan had 931.

District 7 saw the closest race, but Marilyn Johnson-Farr maintained a healthy lead with 2,788 votes while Cheryl Meyer-Thompson had claimed 2,321 votes.

District 5 candidate Mara Krivohlavek ran unopposed and has already been appointed to the seat after the death last month of retiring board member Lanny Boswell. She received 5,605 votes as of Tuesday evening.

Vanessa Emlich appears to be heading back to her Lincoln Airport Authority seat. Tuesday night, the Democrat incumbent had 20,353 votes while Republican challenger Tom Trumble had 16,025 votes.

A total of 18,679 early ballots were cast before this week in the general election, while 22,969 ballots were cast and counted on election day. There are still approximately outstanding 7,700 early vote ballots, which will be counted on Friday, May 9. The 220 provisional ballots will be counted on Wednesday, May 14.