Affirmative action ban to appear on Nebraska ballot; lawsuit filed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10431203

Published Friday September 12, 2008
Affirmative action ban to appear on Nebraska ballot; lawsuit filed

LINCOLN — Opponents of a measure to ban affirmative action in Nebraska have filed a lawsuit, saying more than 40 percent of the signatures on petitions were invalid.

The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, did not stop Secretary of State John Gale from including the proposal on the ballot. Today was the deadline for Gale to certify the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

Should a judge uphold the lawsuit before the election, the results of the affirmative action measure would not be tabulated.

Lawyers for opposition group Nebraskans United said 43 percent of the 170,800 initiative petition signatures were collected improperly. The lawsuit was filed in Lancaster County District Court.

They say paid petition circulators committed illegal acts, such as allowing people to sign their spouses' names; improperly notarizing signatures; and failing to comply with a state law requiring circulators to read a statement describing the proposal to prospective petition signers.

Ward Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Coalition and an adviser to proponents of the ban, dismissed the lawsuit as a desperate attempt to prevent Nebraskans from voting on the proposal.

"We all know Nebraskans United don't want this on the ballot," he said. "They've sought every device to keep us off. This is a last-ditch effort to achieve their objective. This is a frivolous lawsuit and I have no doubt it will be thrown out."

FULL story at link.