U.S. Senate nominee Cindy Burbank might have to sue to get her name off the general election ballot

LINCOLN — As she did to get on the ballot, Nebraska Democratic Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Burbank might have to sue the state to get off it. 

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers confirmed to the Examiner late last week that the Secretary of State’s Office in Lincoln has reached out for guidance on whether the state’s top election official, Bob Evnen, can keep Burbank on the November ballot once she asks to be removed, which she can do once the election is formally certified on June 8. Hilgers described the conversation about next steps as “mildly premature.”

Burbank’s race to be the Democratic Senate nominee drew national attention as she and her opponent, anti-abortion pastor William Forbes, both faced allegations of being “planted” candidates to help either registered nonpartisan Dan Osborn or Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, which the accused candidates and both competing major campaigns deny. 

Osborn has until Aug. 3 to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot. But Osborn and Ricketts are already in a heated race. 

Burbank has posted on her campaign website that she would drop out if she won the primary election to give Osborn a cleaner shot against Ricketts. Burbank told The New York Times on election night that she doesn’t “wanna split the ballot … I have no expectations of being able to win in November.”

The Democrats did not recruit a Senate candidate this year in Nebraska, as the state party Chair Jane Kleeb has endorsed Osborn, but they promoted Burbank over Forbes on handbills and in text messages late in the campaign. 

Earlier this month, Evnen told online outlet The Plains Sentinel that “if she submits a withdrawal, then I’m going to ask, ‘Well, what is my obligation with respect to this now? Do I have to accept it?’ So I’ve submitted this question to the Attorney General to see what happens.”

When the Examiner asked Evnen’s office to confirm that he might try to keep Burbank on the ballot, his office said it had “no comment.” Both Burbank and Forbes joined the Democratic race on the last day to file to run in this cycle’s primary election. Burbank has said she did so to keep Forbes off the general election ballot.

Earlier in the primary race, Evnen took Burbank off the Democratic primary ballot until the state Supreme Court overruled a lower court and ruled that Evnen had missed a deadline to consider complaints about her intent to serve. The secretary of state was in the middle of a contentious GOP primary with Scott Peterson, which Peterson won.

Burbank didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment by phone or email. 

If Evnen decides to try to keep Burbank’s name on the ballot despite her request to be taken off, a lawsuit is likely.

The general election is Nov 3.