PHOENIX (AP) — Organizers of competing abortion measures in Nebraska said Wednesday that they collected enough signatures to get on the November ballot. Officials with Protect Our Rights, which seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, said they turned in 207,000 signatures to the Nebraska secretary of state’s office. SBA Pro-Life America says 205,000 signatures have been submitted to enshrine Nebraska's current 12-week ban into the state constitution.
The secretary of state's office will go through the process of validating that each signature belongs to a registered voter in Nebraska over the next several weeks. Petition initiatives seeking a constitutional amendment must collect enough signatures to equal 10% of registered voters in the state, or about 123,000. Additionally, 5% of the signatures must come from 38 of the state’s 93 counties — a requirement adopted years ago to ensure rural voters have some say in the petition process.
Organizers of the competing efforts have accused each other of misleading voters about the scope of their petitions in an effort to gather as many signatures as possible. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona abortion-rights supporters on Wednesday turned in more than double the signatures needed to put the issue on November’s ballot in the key swing state. Organizers say they submitted 823,685 signatures, far above the 383,923 required from registered voters. .