Third-party ballot access bill advanced

Lawmakers gave first-round approval March 29 to a bill intended to ease ballot access for third-party political candidates.

Under current law, a candidate who is a registered voter of a particular political party can be placed on a primary election ballot in Nebraska if the party received at least 5 percent of the total votes cast in either of the two previous statewide elections.

LB34, introduced by Crete Sen. Laura Ebke, automatically would allow access to the primary election ballot if a party has at least 10,000 registered members as indicated by state voting records.

Ebke said the bill would allow maintenance of ballot access for parties so that they can field candidates at all levels in Nebraska primary elections.

The bill advanced to select file 30-0.