Nebraska Supreme Court sides with Democratic Senate candidate in last-minute dispute over her removal from the ballot

A short but dramatic legal battle came to an end Monday morning when the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that a Democratic Senate candidate was wrongfully removed from the primary election ballot.

Read the opinion

Cindy Burbank was a last-minute entrant to the Democratic Senate primary. She will face off with fellow Democratic candidate William Forbes, who has been accused of being a “plant” by Republicans to draw votes away from independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn in favor of incumbent U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts.

On her website, Burbank is open about her support of Osborn. That support led Secretary of State Bob Evnen to remove her name from the primary election ballot after determining she was not a “good-faith candidate.” The decision from Evnen came after the Nebraska Republican Party sent a letter urging him to reject her candidacy.

Last Tuesday, Burbank sued in Lancaster County seeking a court order to return her name to the primary ballot. The lawsuit was dismissed on Thursday, and Burbank appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

After a highly compressed briefing schedule, the state’s high court ruled in favor of Burbank on Monday.

The 16-page opinion does not address the merits of the objections to Burbank’s candidacy from Evnen and the Nebraska Republican Party. Instead, the court said that the objections were untimely and thus invalid.

“Burbank met her burden to clearly and conclusively show that her candidate filing form is valid and that she is entitled to be included on the 2026 primary election ballot as a Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Senate,” the court wrote in its opinion. “She has also shown that the Secretary has a corresponding clear legal duty, imposed by law and existing at the time the writ was applied for, to include her name when certifying the 2026 primary election ballot.”

Under Nebraska law, there is a seven-day period for written objections to be made to a person’s candidacy. Burbank submitted her candidate filing form on March 2, and no objections were filed by the March 9 deadline. She was removed from the ballot by Evnen on March 16. Evnen argued that the seven-day deadline applies to third parties only, and not his office. The court disagreed.

Evnen also argued that the case is moot because he already certified the primary election ballots on Thursday, March 19, after the lower court dismissed Burbank’s lawsuit. But the Supreme Court said there is nothing preventing Evnen from recertifying the ballots when ordered to do so.

“Even though the Secretary has already certified the 2026 primary election ballot without listing Burbank as a candidate, we know of no legal or practical barrier that would prevent the Secretary from recertifying the primary ballot to list Burbank as a candidate if such relief were ordered by this court,” the court wrote. “Nor has the Secretary offered any legal authority suggesting that once a primary election ballot is certified, he would lack the authority to recertify as required by a court order.”

Lancaster County District Court Judge John Colborn, who initially dismissed Burbank’s lawsuit, issued a court order as directed by the Supreme Court giving Evnen a 5 p.m. deadline to certify Burbank as a primary election candidate.

In a social media statement, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb accused Republicans of fighting in courtrooms instead of competing at the ballot box.

Burbank’s case marks the second time a Democratic candidate was removed from the ballot and then reinstated by the Supreme Court this election cycle: Douglas County Sheriff Candidate Mark Martinez was removed from the ballot by Douglas County Election Commissioner Danielle Jensen after the Douglas County Republican Party filed an objection because Martinez’s law enforcement certification is inactive.

The Supreme Court decided in that case that the statute does not require that a candidate must have an active law enforcement certification to run for Sheriff.

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office confirmed Burbank's name will be included on the ballot.