Gambling vote set in Nebraska

Scott Bauer

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Barring court intervention, Nebraska voters will get to decide whether to allow slot machines in the state.

A petition to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot has enough valid signatures, Secretary of State John Gale announced last week.

Kimball Mayor Greg Robinson, president of the Nebraska Cooperative Government Commission that organized the petition drive, said he was pleased with clearing the latest hurdle.

"The overriding issue here is that the voters want an opportunity to vote on this issue," Robinson said. "It looks like, barring anything like a court order, that we'll have an opportunity to vote on it."

Organizers of the petition drive submitted 178,000 signatures, far more than the 109,000 needed.

County election officials have verified 125,965 signatures, Gale said.

In addition to the total signature count, petition circulators also had to collect signatures from at least 5 percent of registered voters in 38 counties. That requirement has been met in 59 counties, Gale said.

Three counties -- Dawson, Merrick, and Thomas -- were still reviewing signatures.

Of the 174,876 signatures reviewed to date, 72 percent were valid, Gale said. One common reason for a signature to be thrown out was because it came from someone who was not registered to vote, he said.

"The constitutional standards for signatures have been met," Gale said.

But Gale cannot yet certify the proposal for the ballot. That decision must wait until after a court deals with a legal challenge to the petition.

An anti-gambling coalition is challenging the petition in Lancaster County District Court, claiming that a required list of all petition organizers and their addresses was not filed with the state before petitions were circulated.

The coalition also alleges that the petition improperly attempts to restrict the Legislature's authority to write tax laws and that the proposed ballot language for the petition is legally insufficient.

A judge is to consider the case Aug. 29.

The commission that organized the drive is made up of representatives from cities and counties that operate keno lottery games. Members of that group have argued money spent by the state's residents on gambling in other states should be kept in Nebraska.

If approved by voters, the state's constitution would be changed to allow local governments to permit video slot machines in bars, restaurants, race tracks and keno parlors.

Designated video slot parlors also would be allowed within 20 miles of any community that already has video gambling. That provision would impact communities near border states that have gambling -- Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado.