Lincoln officials pass resolution, add 5 charter amendments to November ballot

The Lincoln City Council passed a resolution Monday adding five charter amendments to the November ballot.

Two of the five amendments are alternatives from Lincoln officials to the Good Government Lincoln group’s petitions that aim to alter Lincoln elections.

This comes after a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling last week that ordered the city to place three Lincoln charter amendment petitions on the November ballot. The court said city officials “have a ministerial duty to submit the amendments at that election.”

The three original charter amendments are from the Good Government Lincoln group, led by former state tax commissioner and state Sen. Tony Fulton. The group also lists Axiom Strategies’ Jessica Flanagain, Daniel Bass and Zoe Ganzman.

City officials proposed alternatives to two of the three amendments that Gaylor Baird called a “shortening scheme.”

“If Lincoln voters want even-year elections and City Council term limits, then our city alternatives are the straightforward, fair and reasonable way to enact them,” Gaylor Baird said.

The first petition hopes to realign Lincoln elections with statewide elections. The second hopes to add term limits for Lincoln City Council members.

“The people behind these amendments have not been able to win mayoral or City Council races on the merits of their ideas, so their proposals will shorten the terms of the people whom they have not been able to beat,” Gaylor Baird said.

For the city’s proposed alternative amendments, the first amendment to realign elections with a transition of a three-year, eight month mayoral term rather than one year and eight months. So, there would be elections in 2027 and 2030 for both mayoral and district council seats. At-large city council members would face elections in 2029 and 2032, according to the city.

Good Government Lincoln’s proposal would start in 2028, and every election after would be held in conjunction with state elections.

The second would create term limits for City Council members in the same fashion as mayoral term limits, which is no more than three, four-year consecutive terms.

The petitioners’ proposal would limit council members to two consecutive four-year terms, similar to what members of the state Legislature are subject to.

“It's just weird to me that there seems to be, you know, this attack on Lincoln to put term limits you know here, but no other of these individuals that have statewide are choosing their time and energy to focus on any other municipality, but Lincoln somehow becomes the focus,” councilman James Michael Bowers said at Monday’s meeting.

However, one of the petitions will not face a competing initiative on the ballot. That petition from Good Government Lincoln aims to allow for residents living within the three-mile jurisdiction outside of Lincoln’s city limits the chance to vote in local elections.

“Trust me, we love our neighboring communities, but we all know that this is an unprecedented move in our state, and would be unfair to our city property taxpayers. That's why we urge you to vote against their flat-out crazy plan to allow non-residents to vote,” Weber said.

Bowers mentioned a previous proposal from Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, who proposed a bill this past legislative session that would allow some people living outside Lincoln to vote in city elections.

He continued to bring up concerns about the motives behind the three original amendments. He mentioned Lincoln’s current fight with the state over implementing its own minimum wage.

“I can't tell you what was in anyone's mind, and I'm not going to claim a motive I can't prove, but I do think Lincoln voters are entitled to ask whether this is simply about good government or whether some of this is a response to actions taken by this council to stand up for voters that powerful interests disagreed with,” Bowers said.

Lincoln city code allows for the council to place competing proposals on the same ballot, according to Article XI, Sec. 4.

If competing initiatives both pass, the amendment with the most affirmative votes will be imposed.

Tom Duden, the sole Republican on the board, spoke at the end of the meeting, saying this is an opportunity for the voters to choose what they want.

“I believe the voters have a right to choose. I think 4,000 or 5,000 people per petition is a sample of what the people want in the city of Lincoln,” Duden said.

Now that there’s a resolution, those amendments can be taken to the Lancaster Election Commission and added to the ballot.

Secretary of State Bob Evnen certified the statewide ballot Sept. 11. However, that doesn’t affect local ballot initiatives.

During the press conference, both Weber and Gaylor Baird mentioned the time constraints to add the petitions to the ballot.

For Good Government Lincoln’s first attempt, more than 13,000 signatures were rejected by Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen due to suspected fraud.

Seven paid circulators have been arrested so far in connection with the suspected fraud.

“They failed the first time because they did not implement the basic internal controls to prevent fraudulent activity, and as a result, they came in not at the 11th hour, at the 12th hour, with petitions that they submitted to the election commissioner,” Weber said.

Previously, city officials argued that it requires at least two City Council meetings to approve the petitions. The city also said it didn’t have enough time due to the first round of petitions not meeting the signature threshold. It proposed putting the amendments on the May city election ballot rather than the November general election ballot.

But those arguments did not sway the state Supreme Court.