No chance for casino gambling in Nebraska

The proposal to allow casino gambling in Nebraska failed to qualify for the November general election ballot.

US.- Secretary of State John Gale announced that the petition drive submitted by organisers didn’t have enough verified signatures to put the issue before voters.

The Secretary of State said that organisers turned in 119.666 signatures for the proposed constitutional amendment, but 41.710 were rejected by county election officials who were responsible to review them. They needed at least 117.188 signatures for it to be validated.

Gale said that more than 24.000 signatures were rejected due to signers not being registered in the county indicated on the petition sheet. More than 3000 of them were rejected because they were not registered votes and nearly 4500 because they were duplicates. He also said he requested that county election officials verify signatures for the constitutional amendment first.

They were trying to get three different petitions, but related items on the ballot. The other two ballot issues would regulate new forms of gambling and horse tracks, as well as directing the state on how to use the revenue from expanding gambling. Validation continues on those petitions: “We expect that process to take a few more weeks. In addition to verifying signatures for those two remaining initiatives, some counties are also finishing work on verifying signatures to place presidential candidate Jill Stein on the ballot.”

The Nebraska Family Alliance released a statement expressing that this petition being turned down is “very good news”. “Nebraska consistently ranks as one of the best places to live, work and raise a family, and we’ve achieved that status without casinos in our backyard. Proponents of casinos cannot point to a single place in the United States where casinos have revitalized a community,” it added.