Voters Tuesday approved a ban on government-sponsored affirmative action. Initiative 424 prevents discriminating against individuals or granting preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity or gender.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Initiative 424 passed 58 percent to 42 percent. It will amend Nebraska's constitution on the hiring or recruitment at colleges or other public or government institutions.

The amendment caused concern among many voters who found the wording on the ballot confusing. One Channel 6 viewer said his wife has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and had to text a friend to make sure she was voting correctly.

"I think that the people are speaking pretty loud and clear that this is a principle that they believe in and want to see embedded in the constitution of this great state,” said Civil Rights Institute president Ward Connerly.

Connerly led the effort and helped get similar measures passed in other states. "Many people in this state have shared with me their stories about race being used inappropriately, faculty hiring in the city of Omaha and other places and this initiative will forbid that."

He says the initiative stands to end programs to recruit male nurses or scholarships for Germans or other ethnic groups.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Dr. Ruben Pamies says the effects of 424 go much deeper.

"We have a task force in place, looking at all the languages and all of the different programs that we have to make sure we abide by the law."

He says the initiative could end certain scholarships or programs like recruiting male nurses and it jeopardizes the Virginia-Nebraska Alliance in which student Bryan Spells takes part.

“They're trying to recruit students as well as faculty and staff here in Nebraska to diversify."

It's not about numbers, he says, it's about health. Spells was involved in research for diabetes, a disease with racial disparities. He says he was able to enroll crucial participants because he could relate to them.

"They could express more about themselves than they could going to somebody that they didn't relate to."

Dr. Pamies worries the Med Center will lose diversity, like other states which have passed similar initiatives. "California has seen a reduction of 65 percent, reduction in their enrollment over the last 10 years, of minorities.”

A lawsuit by Nebraskans United claims 424 backers used unfair tactics to gather signatures and get the issue on the ballot. It aims to get strike the measure down.

"And ensuring all of us who make laws through the initiative process follow the rules and adhere to Nebraska's election law process," says Danielle Nantkes of Nebraskans United.

Dr. Pamies says affirmative action measures are still needed to ensure all Nebraskans, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds, have equal opportunities. "I think there's going to have to be a point where we don't need them anymore, but this is just not the time right now."

Initiative 424 will take effect January 1st, unless that lawsuit filed by members of Nebraskans United stops it. The matter is in the hands of Lancaster County Judge Karen Flowers. No word on when a decision may come. Whatever the outcome, this case may very well end up in the Nebraska Supreme Court.