LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Nearly 100,000 signatures between two petitions gathered by Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana are now under scrutiny, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnen.
The Secretary of State filed an amended claim to his cross-claim against the sponsors of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana on Friday. Initially, the filing asked the court to remediate any issues should it find enough invalid signatures to decertify both medical marijuana petitions.
The new claim, however, calls into question whether or not the vast majority of the signatures gathered for the ballot petitions are valid.
Evnen begins by retelling what the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office allegedly uncovered between a circulator and notary charged with crimes related to fraud. Michael Egbert is accused of fabricating 202 signatures on a few dozen petition sheets.
He brought those signatures to notary public Jacy Todd at a dispensary in Grand Island, and authorities say Todd notarized the signatures without the presence of Egbert.
Egbert faces a felony count of false swearing to a circulator’s affidavit, and Todd faces 24 misdemeanor counts of official misconduct. The lawsuit shows that Todd had notarized at least 2,794 signatures, and 2,030 of those signatures were ultimately accepted.
Following the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office’s investigation into the men, Evnen now says multiple other circulators and notaries could be guilty of similar crimes — even calling into question if the signatures they provided are, indeed, valid.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers ensures that election and law officials are working together to identify fraudulent signatures on petitions.
The new filing shows that evidence of “circulator fraud, notarial malfeasance, or both” in at least 71 counties has been identified. Along with Todd, the Attorney General’s Office suspects another seven notaries of malfeasance and three more circulators of fraud. One of the notaries includes the petitions’ main sponsor, Crista Eggers.
The office also noted that another 17 circulators submitted signatures with an abnormally high rejection rate above 50 percent. Evnen said that most of these signatures were submitted in the final two weeks before they were due at the Secretary of State’s Office.
At the time, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana had been posting regular updates on the number of signatures it had gathered. Several posts went into how the campaign was behind by several thousand signatures in the final weeks of collection.
In the end, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana submitted roughly 114,000 signatures for both of its petitions in legalization and regulation. Of those signatures, nearly 90,000 were accepted by the Secretary of State — pushing it beyond the needed 86,499 signatures in 2024.
Evnen subtracted the 202 signatures found to be fraudulently submitted by Egbert, according to the lawsuit, and both petitions were certified as they still had met the threshold as of Sept. 13.
However, Evnen and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office are now raising concerns about thousands more signatures provided by the aforementioned circulators and notaries.
Under the “two out of three” rule, which allows submitted signatures to be deemed verified after meeting certain indications of reliability, a presumption of validity can be applied to most signatures, according to Evnen.
Because these circulators and notaries have been called into question over malfeasance and fraud, both offices now wish to identify any potentially invalid signatures submitted by them. In total, the offices are now suspicious of around 49,000 signatures of each petition.
Charges have only been filed against Egbert and Todd as of Monday, and a total of 202 signatures have been considered to be invalid with evidence significant enough to merit charges. It is unclear if the circulators and notaries suspected of malfeasance and fraud will be charged, but the lawsuit alleges they committed acts similar to what’s been alleged of Egbert and Todd.
The filing concludes by requesting the Lancaster County District Court to review the validity of the roughly 49,000 signatures between both petitions. Evnen states that he will abide by the court’s decision following its determination.
A trial to settle the matter has been scheduled for Oct. 29 through Nov. 1.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana issued a statement on Monday, slamming the court filing and State of Nebraska:
“It is appalling that the State of Nebraska is working to silence and disenfranchise the voices of tens of thousands of Nebraskans based on primarily unsubstantiated technical issues. These issues have absolutely nothing to do with the more than 115,000 voters who signed each of these petitions, or the dedicated patients and Nebraska citizens who worked hard to get the issue on the ballot. We will continue to fight for patients in this state and for election integrity to protect the voice and vote of Nebraska citizens.”
Secretary of State Bob Evnen did not provide comment on the updated filing. It is unclear if similar rigor and scrutiny has been applied to the four other ballot petitions appearing on November’s ballot.
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Nearly 100,000 signatures between two petitions gathered by Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana are now under scrutiny, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnen. Read More