Supporters of affirmative action in Nebraska have a new reason for hope a ban on the practice won’t make it onto the November ballot.

Allies of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative, an effort to end race- and gender-based affirmative action similar to the one being waged in Nebraska, failed to gather the petition signatures they needed to get the issue on that state’s ballot by the Sunday deadline.

Missouri marks the second defeat for affirmative-action opponents, who targeted five states this year in a campaign to end racial and gender preferences in hiring and enrollment decisions.

The Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative also failed to garner the necessary number of signatures.

Three states — Nebraska, Arizona and Colorado — remain.

The news from Missouri cheered affirmative-action supporters here, who believe the best way to defeat the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative could be keeping it off the ballot. Similar initiatives passed comfortably when put before voters in California, Michigan and Washington.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Nic Swiercek, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln senior and vice president of Students United for Nebraska, a student coalition that formed to fight the civil rights initiative.

“We’re hoping that it continues to be one state after another.”

Marc Schniederjans, a UNL professor and treasurer of the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, called the Missouri result disappointing but vowed affirmative-action opponents would press on.

“Here in Nebraska, we’re going to go full tilt,” he said. “We’re gung-ho. We’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”

Petitioners in Nebraska need to gather about 115,000 signatures by July 4 to get an affirmative-action ban on the ballots.

They’ve collected about 30,000 so far, Schniederjans said. He said he’s confident his group will meet its goal, especially now that it can tap former petitioners from Oklahoma and Missouri for help.

Signature-gatherers in Missouri, he said, were stymied by a shorter deadline as well as so-called “blockers,” people who trailed petitioners and encouraged passers-by not to sign.

A spokesman for the Missouri secretary of state’s office said civil rights initiative allies there had plenty of time to get the signatures they needed.

Tim Asher, who led the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative, pledged to try again in 2010.

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.