Citizens for a Free Nebraska is now circulating petitions
statewide. Of course, you can
wait until one of our circulators visits you, you can visit one of
our weekly locations, or you can attend an
event that our circulators are scheduled to be at. But, perhaps a
quicker way to sign our petitions would be to visit one of our
"signing places."
Citizens for a Free
Nebraska is currently working to establish signing places at local businesses and organizations in the
Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster County area in order to make signing the
petitions more convenient for those citizens.
*The signing places are
simply agreed locations where signers can go to meet with our
volunteer circulators and sign our petitions at their convenience.
The signing places are not paid in any way to host our circulators
or to circulate petitions, and all of our circulators are instructed
to follow all petitioning rules and to act in accordance with state
law.*
If you would like
to volunteer a location to be added to our list of signing places,
please contact us for
details.
Below is our current
list of signing places, updated as of 4/30/2008.
|
Bennington |
|
A-Bee's Self
Storage |
15409 Warehouse St |
|
Keno Cabana |
15409 S 2nd St |
|
Schettler's Restaurant |
15603 Bennington Rd |
|
Elkhorn |
|
ACE Hardware |
20277 Wirt St |
|
Big Dog's Beverage |
20310 Wirt St |
|
Chance Ridge
Veterinary Hospital |
506 N. Skyline Rd |
|
Douglas County
Post Gazette |
2929 N 204th St #117 |
|
Du-Rite Electric |
115 S 204th St |
|
Elkhorn Drug |
20330 Veterans Dr |
|
Pro-Cuts |
1119 N 204th Ave |
|
Rick's Meats |
2929 N 204th St |
|
Tiffany's & Co. |
1620 Binfield St |
|
Fort Calhoun |
|
Longhorn Bar &
Restaurant |
101 S 14th St |
|
Gretna |
|
Big Dog's Beverage |
11532 Willow Park Dr |
|
Godfather's
Pizza |
806 Village Sq |
|
Gretna Drug |
820 Village Sq |
|
McKinney's
Grocery |
215 Enterprise Dr |
|
Precious
Treasures Outlet |
14333 S. Highway 31
Suite e-125 |
|
Millard |
|
Ultimate Truck |
13434 Millard Ave |
|
Papillion |
|
Country Connection |
114 N Washington |
|
Papillion Auto Wash |
713 Olson Dr |
|
Ralston |
| Eccles Heating and
Air Conditioning |
5711 S 77th St |
|
Valley |
|
Dick's Valley Market |
111 E Gardiner St |
| Napa Auto |
308 N Spruce |
|
Valley Pharmacy |
123 E Gardiner St |
|
Waterloo |
| Corner Nook |
301 3rd St |
| Merchants of
Venice |
26402 W Center Rd |
| Publication
Printing |
208 3rd St |
|
Yutan |
|
Yutan Gun Shop |
103 Vine |
|
Other locations
coming soon! |
We are currently
working to add locations in other cities in the area. And soon, we will
begin coordinating events and establishing signing places in other
areas as well.
Please
contact us if you ever
have a complaint about one of our circulators so that we can
resolve the issue quickly and ensure that all of our volunteers are
circulating the petitions properly. It is extremely important that
we make sure that everything is being done right.
In the meantime, if
you would like to sign a petition, but are not able to travel to
one of our signing places, and our circulators have not yet visited
your area, please contact:
Tom Fencl at Publication Printing in Waterloo, NE
(402)
779-4272
and we'll try to get a
volunteer out to meet you.
Below on this page are
some key points from a document provided by the Secretary of State.
For the full document, click here.
#
of Signatures and Signature Distribution Requirements
In order force the
issue of independence onto the ballot, Citizens for a Free
Nebraska must collect signatures from a total of 7% of the
registered voters in Nebraska. And, the signatures must be
distributed across at least two-fifths of Nebraska's 93 Counties,
while meeting a minimum of 5% of the registered voters from each of
those Counties. The signatures must be submitted to the Secretary of
State no later than four months prior to the general election.
In other words, we
must obtain a total of 78,139 signatures from 38 Nebraska
Counties, while meeting a minimum of 5% of the registered
voters from each of those Counties. And, we need them by about the
end of June.
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Petition
Circulators
Circulators must read
the object statement of the petition to each signer, and must
witness each signature.
When collecting
signatures on public property, circulators must abide by any
restrictions on time and place that may be in effect. On private
property, circulation is up to the discretion of the property owner.
Furthermore, state law prohibits the gathering of signatures within
200 feet of a polling place.
Circulators cannot
offer or give anything of value to potential signers in order to get
them to sign the petition. Doing so is illegal, and it comes with a
penalty of up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Circulators may be
either paid or volunteer, and either type must abide by its own set
of rules and regulations in accordance with state law.
When finished
collecting signatures, Circulators must sign sign the oath on the
form in the presence of a notary public and return the completed
petition form to Citizens for a Free Nebraska.
If you have questions
or concerns, please don't hesitate to
contact us. It is
extremely important that all circulators and signers follow the
process correctly and adhere to all requirements of state law.
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Petition Signers
Signers must be
registered voters in Nebraska by the deadline for the submission of
the petitions. By signing the petition, the signer is stating that
they are or will be a registered voter by the submission deadline.
A signer must not sign
any name other than their own, sign a petition more than once, or
accept anything of value for signing the petition.
Common nicknames of
signers such as "Bob" for "Robert" will be accepted, but it is
simply easier and more certain that the signature will be accepted
if the signer signs in the same way that they are registered. So in
other words, please sign the petitions in the same way that you are
registered.
If a signer makes a
mistake when signing, it is permissible to cross out the incorrect
signature line without affecting the other signatures on the
petition form.
If you have questions
or concerns, please don't hesitate to
contact us. It is
extremely important that all circulators and signers follow the
process correctly and adhere to all requirements of state law.
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Specific Questions
Here,
I will try to post the answers to a few common specific questions.
Q:
Is it acceptable to collect signatures from more than one County on
a
single
petition form?
A:
No. Each petition form must contain signatures from only one County.
The statement at the top of each petition form reads, "We, the
undersigned residents of the State of Nebraska and the County of
___," which means that all of the signatures on that petition form
must be from the "County of ___."
So, "mixed-County" petition forms are
not acceptable.
The
reason is that the County-level election commissions are the ones
that verify the signatures after they have been submitted.
Q:
How should residents of Elkhorn sign the petitions? For instance, do
they now have to write "Omaha" as the city?
A:
No. Elkhorn residents can still use Elkhorn as
the city.
Here is what the Secretary of State's office said:
"While it is preferable to use the new address (including city), if
an old address is used, the local official will be able to verify
the signature with the old address [including the old city]."
Also according to the Secretary of State's office, Elkhorn voters
should not need to re-register to vote:
"The Douglas County Election Commissioner has already updated the
addresses in Elkhorn, so a voter does not need to re-register [if
their address has been changed administratively by Omaha, as opposed
to people who have moved or need to re-register for other reasons].
However, it is simpler if a signer uses the new address."
The rule of thumb is, try to sign exactly as you are registered to
vote.
Q: How exactly do
I sign the petition form? Please give a column
by column example.
A:
It is best to sign exactly as you are registered to vote. And, make
sure that your information in each column is complete. For example,
you must include the month, day, and year in your date of birth.
| |
Date |
Signature |
Printed Name |
Date
of Birth |
Address |
City or Village |
Zip Code |
|
1 |
2 / 22 2008 |
 |
John A. Doe |
2 / 22 1950 |
555 S 204th St |
Gretna |
68028 |
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Registered Voters in Nebraska by County
(numbers updated: 4/9/2008)
Citizens for a Free Nebraska needs to collect a total of
78,139 signatures, according to our current numbers. Below is a
map of the 38 counties that we intend to target for petition
signatures. Inside each of our target counties is a red number - that red number is
the 5% minimum number of signatures that we must collect from that
county (for more information on signature distribution requirements,
click here).
click to enlarge
It is important to understand that the total of the 5% minimums from
each county included on
our map only adds up to about half of the total required number of
signatures. So, in order to achieve our goal of 78,139
signatures, we plan to actually collect around 45,000 signatures from Douglas
County, and also to increase the number of signatures from Sarpy,
Washington, and Lancaster Counties.
And, as the number of registered voters in Nebraska increases, so does
our required number of signatures. So, we will try to periodically
update the numbers on this map to reflect that.
If you are able to help us collect signatures in any county, please
contact us.
If you have any questions, please
contact us.