Medical marijuana, abortion and paid sick leave on Nebraska ballots this election

Nebraskans will get to vote in November for a president, two U.S. Senators, three U.S. House of Representatives and six state ballot measures, including medical marijuana legalization, abortion access, paid sick leave and whether to repeal a school voucher program.

None of the measures made it to the ballot without struggle. Just days before the Secretary of State’s ballot certification deadline, a state initiative and referendum aiming to expand abortion access and strike down a school voucher program survived legal challenges after they were heard in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court.

For clarification, an initiative allows citizens to propose statutes and put them on the ballot. In a referendum, the legislature refers a law to the public for rejection or approval through a vote.

Here’s what you need to know about the six measures that voters in the Cornhusker State will decide on Nov. 5

• ‘Protect Women & Children’

• ‘Protect the Right to Abortion’

• ‘Private Education Scholarship Partial Referendum’

• ‘Paid Sick Leave’

• ‘Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection’

• ‘Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation.’

Abortion access

Competing proposals to amend Nebraska’s constitution, one to guarantee abortion rights and the other to restrict them, will appear on ballots in November’s election, the state’s highest court recently ruled.

One proposed amendment, sponsored by a coalition of pro-abortion rights organizations, including a Planned Parenthood affiliate, would establish a “fundamental right” to abortion up to fetal viability, which is typically around 24 weeks, and to protect the mother’s life or health after that.

The opposing measure, sponsored by a group of anti-abortion doctors, would prohibit abortion after the first trimester, with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape or incest. That is similar to Nebraska’s existing abortion law at 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Nebraska is one of nine states expected to vote on abortion rights in November, as abortion rights advocates seek to undo new abortion bans and restrictions passed by Republican-controlled states in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling eliminating the long-standing nationwide right to abortion. Policy regarding abortion and women’s reproductive rights in general is a key issue in this year’s presidential election.

Legalizing medical marijuana

After multiple failed attempts by activists to get medical marijuana on the ballot and through the state legislature, Nebraskans will decide on whether to legalize it.

Nebraskans for Medical Cannabis is sponsoring a pair of measures. One would decriminalize the use of medical marijuana and create protections for patients and caregivers. The other would legalize possessing, manufacturing, distributing, delivering and dispensing cannabis for medical purposes and create a state commission to regulate the drug.

“It’s been a long road, but we’ve really focused, and our main goal has always been the same, which is to bring regulated and safe cannabis access to patients in our state who so desperately need it,” Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign manager, Crista Eggers, said. “Each hurdle on each ballot initiative year, each bill that they brought through the legislature has truly brought us to this point.”

Paid sick leave

Establishing paid sick leave for workers in Nebraska made its way onto the state’s ballot after two failed attempts in the state legislature.

If approved, the measure would require businesses with 20 or more employees to offer up to seven days of paid sick leave per year and companies with fewer than 20 employees to offer up to five days of paid sick leave per year.

Jodi Lepaopao, the campaign manager for Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans, says that despite being a predominantly conservative state, Nebraska voters have a track record of passing worker-centered ballot measures, including increasing the minimum wage in 2022.

“There is a perception that Nebraska is traditionally red, but at the end of the day, these types of economic ballot issues are just like such common sense,” Lepaopao said. “We want to be able to take care of ourselves, our families, our communities and so that’s what we’ve noticed over the past few years.”

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia currently have mandatory paid sick leave. A similar measure will also be on Missouri’s ballot this fall.

School vouchers

After a complicated back-and-fourth between school choice supporters and public school advocates, Nebraskans will vote on whether to repeal a new law that puts state money towards private school scholarship funds.

In 2023, the state legislature passed the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which directed $25 million from state coffers to a tax credit for donations to private school scholarship funds. After Support Our Schools, a public school advocacy group, successfully got a measure on the ballot to repeal the law in January, the legislature overrode it by passing a new law that directly allocates $10 million a year to private school vouchers.

Support Our Schools recently got another measure on the ballot that, if successful, will end both the tax credit and the state appropriation of private school scholarship funds.

Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion, medical marijuana, school choice on Nebraska's ballot