LINCOLN — Nebraska voters could face an unusual result from a November election that is likely to see multiple — and possibly dueling — ballot initiatives.

What happens if voters pass more than one competing constitutional amendment on the same issue?

The short answer: The one with the most votes wins if more than one is passed and in legal conflict with one another.

“If they’re on the same topic, you’re looking for the amendment that received the most raw votes (for passage),” Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said. “It’s not the percentage.”

That quirk of state law and constitutional design could come into play this fall on the issue of abortion.

Three groups are circulating potential constitutional amendments on abortion for the November ballot. Each appears at odds with the others.

One initiative, put forward by Protect Our Rights Nebraska, would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution up until fetal viability, which most place between 22 and 24 weeks.

A second, put forward by Protect Women and Children, would allow no abortions after the first trimester, much like current law, but it would let the Legislature restrict abortion further in the future.

A third, put forward by Now Choose Life, would grant “personhood” under the law to embryos and fetuses in a mother’s womb, making the law treat them like a child who has been born.

At least the first two appear to have a chance of passage, based on public opinion and results of elections in other states showing support either for abortion rights or for abortion bans after 12-15 weeks.

The third effort started late, but it could find support among people in communities of faith, raising the possibility of not just two amendments passing that might conflict, but three.

People behind the petition efforts had no immediate comment.

Evnen, the state’s top election official, spoke to the Nebraska Examiner this week about what the possibility of more than one ballot issue passing might mean.

First, he said, the State Canvassing Board would have to meet after the election to certify the election results.

Within 10 days of certification, Evnen explained, Gov. Jim Pillen would decide whether the constitutional amendments were in conflict with one another and to what degree.

“In this particular case, these appear to me to be entirely in conflict,” Evnen said.

Under state law, the governor has the ministerial duty to convey what constitutional amendments have passed. The one with the most votes would be amended into the constitution.

That power is rooted in Article III, Section 2 of the Nebraska Constitution and clarified in Nebraska Revised Statute 32-1416.

For voters, Evnen said, the calculus changes.

“If a voter says, ‘This is what I want to have passed, and I don’t want that,’ the wisest course of action is for them to vote for the measure they want and against the measure they don’t want,” Evnen said.

How it could happen
Some people might vote for more than one of the amendments, especially the abortion-rights amendment and the Protect Women and Children initiative.

Some supporters of the abortion-rights amendment have said they wanted it to provide a specific number of weeks in which abortions would be allowed. They might be drawn to the Protect Women and Children initiative, because it includes language banning abortion after the first trimester.

Abortion-rights supporters say the Protect Women and Children language was designed to confuse voters so it might seem more moderate than it is.

Supporters of the Protect Women and Children petition acknowledge that it was written to set a maximum number of weeks abortions could be performed. It would still allow abortion to be further restricted by the Legislature.

It was unclear whether a similar issue has arisen previously in Nebraska, although other states, including California, Missouri and Oregon, have previously passed competing amendments.

Petition drive backers have until July 3 to turn in signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office.

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