One Democrat who was kicked off the ballot got reinstated Wednesday, while another awaits a court’s decision.
Nebraska Supreme Court Justice William Cassel ruled that Mark Martinez, who is running for Douglas County Sheriff, meets the requirements to be on the ballot.
Martinez, a former Omaha Police Department deputy chief and U.S. Marshal, does not have a current active law enforcement certificate in the state. Because of that, the Douglas County Republican Party argued that he did not meet the requirement to run for sheriff.
After initially approving his campaign, Douglas County Election Commissioner Danielle Jensen last week, changed course and ruled his name should not be on the ballot.
Martinez appealed directly to the state Supreme Court because the deadline to print ballots for the May 12 primary is rapidly approaching.
In his ruling Wednesday, Cassel said that the plain language of Nebraska’s law does not say whether a sheriff candidate’s law enforcement certificate has to be active.
“Because the plain language of the unambiguous statute does not distinguish between an active and inactive certificate, I conclude that Mark Martinez satisfies its candidacy requirements,” Cassel wrote. “Accordingly, Martinez’ name shall be included on the ballot.”
In the other case, Democratic Senate candidate Cindy Burbank had her name removed from the ballot.
Burbank is running for the Democratic ticket in the primaries while openly supporting Independent candidate Dan Osborn in his candidacy against incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts. Burbank has said that if she wins the primary, she will support Osborn.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen said that meant Burbank is not a “good-faith candidate” and he is allowed to remove her from the ballot under state law to preserve election integrity. She challenged his removal of her name from the ballot in court, arguing he is violating her First Amendment rights, and asked the courts to put her name back in the running.
Burbank’s attorneys said she was informed only this week, well after a written objection to her candidacy should have been filed, that Evnen was removing her name. This gave her only a few days before the state deadline to finalize the ballots, which is on Friday.
Attorneys for Evnen argued that, regardless of the timeline, Burbank’s support for Osborn means she has no intention of serving in the senate. They say they have emails between Burbank and the Democratic Party saying she should drop out to give Osborn a better chance of winning if she wins the primaries.
“Our elections are not a game to be played,” Evnen’s attorneys said.
Burbank’s lawyers said she will serve in the Senate if elected. They add that Burbank’s competition for the Democratic ticket, William Forbes, is a plant who is only running to split the vote between himself and Osborn so that Ricketts can win. Although they did not expound on their evidence for this claim, they said that Evnen’s office should hold the same standard for both Burbank and Forbes. Lawyers also argued that regardless, voters have the right to vote for whichever candidate they choose, regardless of their motivation for running for office.
“People run for office with little hope of winning all the time,” Burbank’s attorneys said. “It’s not for the secretary to say ‘You are not allowed to be on the ballot for that reason.’”
Burbank has until Friday to get back on the ballot before Evnen finalizes it. The judge said he will make a decision in the case as soon as possible.