USA - Nebraska. Secretary of State reported today that 120,479 signatures to suspend the repeal of the death penalty have been certified to his office.

Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale reported today that 120,479 signatures have been both certified and verified to his office. That would surpass a threshold of 10 % of the state's registered voters, or 113,883 signatures, necessary to suspend the repeal of the death penalty until a referendum is held on the issue during the November 2016 general election. Gale said he won't put a final stamp on the petition drive until 110 % of the signature requirement - 125,271 signatures - are certified and verified. "This is not an official certification yet," he said Friday. His report noted that 17,849 signature have been rejected so far. Petition organizers submitted nearly 167,000 total signatures last month. The drive needs to meet a 2nd requirement, exceeding the 10 % threshold in at least 38 of the state's 93 counties, but that may happen as early as next week, a spokeswoman for the office said. This spring, the Nebraska Legislature abolished capital punishment by overriding a veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts. It was a historic vote, making Nebraska the 1st conservative state in 4 decades to repeal the death penalty. Death penalty supporters immediately announced plans to gather signatures for a voter referendum on the issue. A week ago, the Secretary of State's office announced that the referendum drive had met a lower threshold, 5 % of all registered voters, needed to place the issue on the 2016 ballot. On Friday, the Secretary of State also released the ballot language as written by Attorney General Doug Peterson. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who sponsored the repeal legislation, said Friday while the effective date of the repeal may be suspended, it remains the law until voters say otherwise. And if the lawsuit fails to stop the referendum, Chambers said he believes repeal supporters ultimately will prevail. "Serenity is what I feel at this point," Chambers said. "And I feel supremely confident the will of the Legislature to repeal the death penalty will stand." Putting the repeal on hold also raises questions about whether the state could pursue an execution before the referendum could be held in about 14 months. The attorney general has not said if his office will ask the Nebraska Supreme Court to issue a death warrant before the public vote is taken. As of now, the state lacks two of the drugs it needs to carry out a lethal injection and it remains in doubt whether it will be able to obtain the drugs. Chambers argued there is no way the court would allow an execution before a vote of the people, especially with unsettled legal questions surrounding the petition and the lethal injection drugs. Stephen Griffith, director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Friday he was disappointed but not surprised to learn of the latest numbers. Petition organizers turned in close to 167,000 total signatures last month. "I believe when Nebraska voters know the facts, they'll agree with the Legislature and vote to repeal the death penalty," Griffith said Friday. Ricketts and other backers of the death penalty say that the Legislature was out of touch and that rank-and-file citizens support keeping capital punishment. Nebraskans for Public Safety, the group that formed to defend the repeal, filed a lawsuit Thursday to nullify the referendum drive. The lawsuit claims it had a fatal flaw because it failed to list as a sponsor Ricketts, a leading financier of the referendum. The law requires all sponsors of petition drives to be listed. A Ricketts spokeswoman responded to the lawsuit Friday, saying the governor's support for the death penalty doesn't make him a "sponsor" of a referendum to restore capital punishment. "This is yet another example of special interests using the courts in an attempt to thwart the will of the voters," spokeswoman Brittany Hardin said. The Republican governor has been a vocal and financial backer of the drive, and his privately funded political consultant helped coordinate the signature-collection effort.