On April 24, the Nebraska Senate unanimously approved LB 34. It adds a second method for a party to remain on the ballot. The old law requires a party to poll 5% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. The bill says a party also remains on the ballot if it has at least 10,000 registered members.
The only three parties on the Nebraska ballot now are the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties. The Libertarian Party has slightly more than 11,000 registrants. Therefore, assuming the bill is signed into law by the Governor, the Libertarian Party won’t need to run any statewide candidates in 2018 if it doesn’t wish to, and would still remain on the ballot.
The Libertarian Party of Nebraska ought to run statewide candidates in 2018 regardless of if this passes into law or not.