On February 19, a U.S. District Court rejected Bernbeck v Gale, 8:13cv-228, a case against Nebraska’s ban on paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. The basis was that the same plaintiff had lost in this issue in state court.
However, the decision says that the plaintiff is free to proceed against another law mentioned in the Complaint, the Nebraska county distribution for statewide initiatives. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled back in 1969 that county distribution requirements for statewide petitions are unconstitutional, because counties have widely differing populations.
“The U.S. Supreme Court ruled back in 1969 that county distribution requirements for statewide petitions are unconstitutional, because counties have widely differing populations.” So how does this work with ballot measures that require 5% in a certain number of legislative districts? It seems we’d have a lot of unconstitutional laws in the various states.
The difference is that counties have unequal populations, but legislative districts, in theory, have equal populations.