LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office on Thursday certified the petition for a partial referendum on “school choice.”. In mid-July, Support Our Schools Nebraska turned in more than 86,000 signatures for the school choice petition, which required about 62,000 signatures. The Secretary of State said Friday that the state had verified that petition surpassed the minimum number and that those signatures represented at least 5% of 57 counties, which was 19 more than required.