32-628. Petitions; requirements.

(1) All petitions prepared or filed pursuant to the Election Act or any petition which requires the election commissioner or county clerk to verify signatures by utilizing the voter registration register shall provide a space at least two and one-half inches long for written signatures, a space at least two inches long for printed names, and sufficient space for date of birth and street name and number, city or village, and zip code. Lines on each petition shall not be less than one-fourth inch apart. Petitions may be designed in such a manner that lines for signatures and other information run the length of the page rather than the width. Petitions shall provide for no more than twenty signatures per page.

(2) For the purpose of preventing fraud, deception, and misrepresentation, every sheet of every petition containing signatures shall have upon it, above the signatures, the statements contained in this subsection, except that a petition for recall of an elected official shall also have the additional information specified in subsection (2) of section 32-1304. The statements shall be printed in boldface type in substantially the following form:

WARNING TO PETITION SIGNERS—VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS OF LAW MAY RESULT IN THE FILING OF CRIMINAL CHARGES: Any person who signs any name other than his or her own to any petition or who is not qualified to sign the petition shall be guilty of a Class I misdemeanor. Any person who falsely swears to a circulator's affidavit on a petition, who accepts money or other things of value for signing a petition, or who offers money or other things of value in exchange for a signature upon any petition shall be guilty of a Class IV felony.

(3) Every sheet of a petition which contains signatures shall have upon it, below the signatures, an affidavit as provided in this subsection, except that the affidavit for a petition for recall of an elected official shall also include the additional language specified in subsection (3) of section 32-1304. The affidavit shall be in substantially the following form:

..........................., (name of circulator) being first duly sworn, deposes and says that he or she is the circulator of this petition containing .......... signatures, that he or she is at least eighteen years of age, that each person whose name appears on the petition personally signed the petition in the presence of the affiant, that the date to the left of each signature is the correct date on which the signature was affixed to the petition and that the date was personally affixed by the person signing such petition, that the affiant believes that each signer has written his or her name, street and number or voting precinct, and city, village, or post office address correctly, that the affiant believes that each signer was qualified to sign the petition, and that the affiant stated to each signer the object of the petition as printed on the petition before he or she affixed his or her signature to the petition.

Circulator ...........................

Address ..............................

Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public, this ...... day of ......... 20.... at ..............., Nebraska.

Notary Public ...........................

(4) Each sheet of a petition shall have upon its face and in plain view of persons who sign the petition a statement in letters not smaller than sixteen-point type in red print on the petition. If the petition is circulated by a paid circulator, the statement shall be as follows: This petition is circulated by a paid circulator. If the petition is circulated by a circulator who is not being paid, the statement shall be as follows: This petition is circulated by a volunteer circulator.

Source

Annotations

The portion of this section which reads "Any circulator circulating petitions under sections 32-702 to 32-713 shall not be hired and salaried for the express purpose of circulating petitions" violates the first amendment and is for that reason void and of no force or effect. State v. Radcliffe, 228 Neb. 868, 424 N.W.2d 608 (1988).

Where actual and exact date on which the signature of an elector was signed is readily apparent, the omission or faulty rendition of the date should be treated as a clerical or technical error. State ex rel. Morris v. Marsh, 183 Neb. 521, 162 N.W.2d 262 (1968).

When a certificate of a circulator has been impeached by proof of fraud, all signatures appearing on any petition circulated by him must be rejected until proved genuine. Barkley v. Pool, 103 Neb. 629, 173 N.W. 600 (1919).