Nebraska has signed off on two ballot measures to legalize medical marijuana amid accusations that at least several thousand false signatures were submitted, a political phenomenon that seems to be correlated to a disproportionately partisan system in certain legislatures.
The state’s Rep. Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued a statement during a Zoom news conference with a local prosecutor, announcing a felony charge against a local petition circulator over invalid signatures.
In a sworn statement, a deputy sheriff said there were problems with 164 signatures on 38 pages of the petitions for the proposals. According to the deputy’s affidavit, which was gathered from mid-February through June, the man was paid by the hour to collect signatures and submitted more than 100 petition pages, and he acknowledged signing some names himself, copying them from a telephone book and making up people’s birth dates. The man’s attorney declined comment.
Despite this, the Nebraska Secretary of State Rep. Bob Evnen, certified both the ballot measures on Friday, the last day possible, saying they appeared to have enough signatures.
Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for either medical or recreational use, most recently in Ohio last November. In May, the federal government began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. This fall, voters will be able to weigh in on legalizing recreational marijuana in North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida.
In a statement to AP, Crista Eggers, campaign manager for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group pushing the measures, expressed confidence that “the people’s voice on this issue will finally be heard,” adding the group provides extensive training to its circulators.
“Circulators are held to an extremely high standard and are required to strictly follow all legal requirements for collecting signatures,” she said. “Any circulators caught violating the law should be held accountable for their actions.”
The uptick of these initiatives signals a widespread effort of left-leaning organizations and state lawmakers to force public votes on measures contested by GOP lawmakers when partisan gerrymandering restricts Democrats’ political power in legislatures. This tactic has also been used by abortion rights advocates.
Opponents of these measures have filed lawsuits to keep them off the ballot, and Republican-leaning states have also tried to restrict citizens’ ability to bypass lawmakers through ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments. Hilger asserts his office’s investigation is still open and if it finds enough invalid signatures, the courts could remove them from the ballot, block the counting of votes for them or invalidating the new laws if the measures were to be passed.
In the Nebraska criminal case, Michael Egbert, of Grand Island, is charged with a single count of falsely swearing to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition, which can be punished by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
