LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – The Nebraska Attorney General is alleging more fraud has occurred on petitions that put medical marijuana initiatives on the November ballot. But organizers say the state is really just trying to silence the voices of tens of thousands of Nebraskans on what they call “technicalities.”
A cross-claim filed Friday in Lancaster District Court alleges widespread “fraud and notary malfeasance,” disputing the validity of about 49,000 Nebraska medical marijuana ballot initiative petition signatures — but it doesn’t mean that the signatures aren’t real or from people who don’t want to see the issue put to a vote in November.
The new documents allege that some signature collectors — and others who signed off on the petitions — broke the rules. For that reason, they’re arguing that everything those people touched should be tossed.
But remember: Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen already said this issue is on the ballot. In fact, since ballots went out last week, Nebraskans are already voting on it; in-person voting started Monday.
What’s striking, however, is that Evnen — in the lawsuit — is asking a Lancaster County District Court judge to consider voiding the election results based on the current findings.
Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis said the families of this grass-roots effort are “appalled” that the state is “willing to stop at nothing” to deprive Nebraskans of the chance to vote on access to medical cannabis.
They question the motives of the Secretary of State “naming and attacking patients and caregivers” who have been fighting for access for a decade, calling it both “sickening and wrong.”
“We are appalled by the State of Nebraska and its elected officials who are willing to stop at nothing to deprive Nebraskans of the chance to vote on compassionate access to medical cannabis for suffering patients. The Secretary of State names and attacks patients and caregivers who have been tirelessly fighting for access for over a decade—based on alleged notary mistakes on a handful of petitions.
It is both sickening and wrong to go after individuals who have given everything to this fight. Nebraskans should be outraged that the state is trying to toss aside the will of the people, by using power, money and intimidation. We will not back down, and will continue to advocate for patients in this state as well as those who have been fighting alongside.”
They say Nebraskans should be outraged that state is trying to sidestep the will of the people with “alleged notary mistakes on a handful of petitions.”
Another advocacy group, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, also issued a statement on Monday accusing the state of trying to “silence and disenfranchise” voters based on “primarily unsubstantiated technical issues.”
“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.”
While making a number of allegations against several others in the cross-claim — some of whom have children with epilepsy — the state has filed criminal charges against two individuals.
Twenty-four official misconduct charges were filed against 53-year-old Jacy Todd, a notary public from York who allegedly notarized medical marijuana petition pages submitted by 66-year-old Michael Egbert after they were dropped off at a Grand Island business — but not in Egbert’s presence, as required by law. Those charges came weeks after Egbert himself was charged with submitting fraudulent signatures on the medical marijuana petitions.
Judge Susan Strong is presiding over the case, deciding last month the initiatives cleared two of the four disputes main in the lawsuit filed on behalf of plaintiff John Kuehn — including the “single-subject” hurdle that was the undoing of a similar push in 2020.
But two others in a Lancaster County lawsuit challenging the two medical marijuana petitions have been allowed to proceed: claims that numerous signatures on the submitted petitions were invalid — signed by non-registered voters, were missing addresses, had mismatched dates of birth, and other related allegations — and should not have been accepted by Evnen; and allegations that Evnen failed to strike duplicate signatures.
Judge Strong has that precedent dictated some clerical and technical errors could be disregarded if that information could be inferred from other evidence in the petition. But she also noted that it was important to determine whether the alleged errors fell into that category.
If passed by voters in November, one ballot initiative would allow patients to purchase medical marijuana and the other would allow businesses to sell it.
Read the documents
—
Digital Director Gina Dvorak contributed to this report.
—
Get the latest breaking news updates delivered to your inbox. Sign up for 6 News email alerts.
Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.
The Nebraska Attorney General is alleging more fraud has occurred on petitions that put medical marijuana initiatives on the November ballot. But organizers say the state is really just trying to silence the voices of tens of thousands of Nebraskans on what they call “technicalities.” Read More