In 2008, the Nebraska legislature made it illegal for out-of-state residents to circulate petitions in Nebraska. A lawsuit, challenging that restriction, plus a few other restrictions, was filed on December 16. The North Platte Telegraph has this interview with one of the plaintiffs, Mike Groene, in which Groene explains why he is opposed to the out-of-state circulator ban. Groene is chair of the Western Nebraska Taxpayer Association.
The brain dead courts can NOT detect the difference between the Electors-Voters inside an area and ALIEN folks from outside such area.
How soon before hoards of folks from Asia, etc. are doing candidate and issue petitions in the U.S.A. ???
I think transportation costs would not make it feasible for foreigners to come to the U.S. and circulate petitions. But if they did, so what? A few states have so little concern over who circulates petitions, they don’t even provide that the circulators sign off on the bottom of the sheets. Thus petition sheets are submitted and no one even knows or cares who circulated them. This makes it possible for petitions to be left unattended, for example on bulletin boards. As long as elections officials check the signatures to see that the signers really are registered voters (and that the signature matches the signature on that voter’s registration form), who cares who circulated it?
Richard hit the nail on the head (as usual). I’d like to add that one does not give up their free speech rights when they travel to a state where they do not normally reside.
I live in Nebraska, and support the ban. This is our state, and we can dictate who does what here, if we want to. Doesn’t restrict out of state money from coming in. If they want to do this kind of thing, all it says is they have to do it with locals.
That is well within constitutional limits and has widespread support in the state.
The wacko in the article essentially is claiming that this law bars political association for out of staters, which is doesn’t, and doesn’t allow out of staters to register people to vote, which it also does not do.
This is amazingly ridiculous spin… saying that some organizations don’t want poor people to be able to spread petitions?!?!?
Is that a joke? This law was specifically brought because of out of state organizations bringing in petitioners from out of state that were paid by the signature and had no idea what they were asking people to sign. Abuses by these organizations led to a slew of new rules.
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“Solomon Kleinsmith Says:
December 19th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I live in Nebraska, and support the ban. This is our state, and we can dictate who does what here, if we want to. Doesn’t restrict out of state money from coming in. If they want to do this kind of thing, all it says is they have to do it with locals.”
You have NO such right as this ban violates both the US Constitution and the state constitution.
We have the right to travel freely throughout the United States of America, and we do NOT give up any of our rights when we cross from one state to another.
“Is that a joke? This law was specifically brought because of out of state organizations bringing in petitioners from out of state that were paid by the signature and had no idea what they were asking people to sign. Abuses by these organizations led to a slew of new rules.”
Oh bullshit. Anyone who reads the petitions knows what they are about. The petitions say what they are right on the top of the freakin page. Whether or not a person normally resides in a state or not has got NOTHING to do with whether or not they can read or do read the words on the petition sheet.
What this is REALLY about is the legislature trying to make it more difficult to qualify stuff for the ballot via petition. They want to take choices away from the general public so they have more power for themselves.
#2 How about armies of legal and illegal aliens from Mexico or Canada ???
Armies of foreign legal tourists ???
Armies of unemployed Americans from other States ???
Good for stimulating the economy ???
See the book — Sources of Our Liberties edited by Richard L. Perry (1959) — the LONG background leading to the U.S.A. Bill of Rights – mainly 1st-8th Amdts.
The 1st Amdt was NOT written about ballot access — but of course the party hack Supremes love mystifying the Constitution.
The points brought up by Demo Rep are completely ridiculous.
The 1st amendments is about free speech. This means free speech for everyone. We have a legal right to travel throughout the USA and we do not give up any of our rights when we travel, including the right to free speech and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Segregated states in the south tried something similar when they tried to ban northerners from coming in to work on civil rights protests and legal issues.
Also keep in mind that the American revolution included foreign mercenaries.
We have the right to travel around the country to put our part(ies) on the ballot and make sure national parties are available as a choice for voters in each and every state.
And we have the right to assist our friends in each and every state that has initiatives in fighting for freedom through the initiative process.
Finally, this ban is a restraint on interstate commerce as well as free speech, assembly and the right to petition for redress of grievances.