Fairness for Girls Constitutional Amendment petition signatures validated for November ballot

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Fairness for Girls Constitutional Amendment petition has been certified to appear on the November ballot. The petition was certified by the Secretary of State’s office.

The Fairness for Girls petition collected at least 138,613 valid signatures.

The county election offices concluded the signature verification after the petition met the 110% threshold.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, they are still processing the Protect Nebraskans’ Initiative and Referendum Powers Constitutional Amendment petition.

According to Fairness for Girls website, the Fairness for Girls Constitutional Amendment petition regards the proposed amendment stating schools must designate each athletic team or sport as one of the following based on biological sex: males, men or boys; females, women or girls; or coed or mixed.

After the announcement, sponsors of the petition released statements.

“Nebraska girls deserve a fair opportunity to earn scholarships, medals, and tournament advancements without being forced to compete against biological males,” said sponsor Julie Slama. “I’m proud of the Nebraskans who signed this petition and took a stand for young women.” 

Gov. Jim Pillen said the amendments are about safety, not politics.

“Nebraskans now have the opportunity to enshrine the commonsense protections that I signed into law into our constitution,” said Pillen. “This isn’t about politics. It’s about safety, preserving scholarship opportunities, and giving young female competitors a fair shot. It’s critical that we put a stop to the possibility of biological men competing against our girls. Please follow my lead, vote, and get this into our constitution.”