Nebraska certifies ballot measures to legalize medical marijuana

Nebraska certified two ballot measures to legalize medical marijuana on Friday, even though the state’s Republican attorney general said their supporters may have submitted at least several thousand invalid signatures, which could prevent them from becoming law.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers made the statement during a Zoom press conference with a local district attorney to announce a felony charge against a local petition distributor for fraudulent signatures. A deputy sheriff said in a sworn statement that there were problems with 164 signatures on 38 pages of petitions for proposals. The man’s lawyer declined to comment.

The deputy’s affidavit also said the man was paid by the hour to collect signatures and submitted more than 100 pages of petitions. According to the deputy, the man admitted to signing some names himself, copying them from a phone book and making up people’s dates of birth. Hilgers told reporters that some of the fake signatures were for dead people, and an investigation into pro-marijuana petitions raised questions about many other signatures.

But those issues are keeping the measures from the November ballot so far. Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, also a Republican, certified both on Friday, the last possible day, saying they appeared to have enough signatures.

Hilger said his office’s investigation is still open, and if it finds enough invalid signatures, courts could remove them from the ballot, block the counting of votes for them or, if the measures pass, invalidate the new laws.

“The election is around the corner and the integrity of our election is critically important,” Hilgers told reporters.

Crista Eggers, campaign manager for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuna, the group pushing the measures, expressed confidence that “people’s voices on this issue will finally be heard.” She said in a statement that the group provides extensive training for its circulators.

“Circulators are held to an extremely high standard and are required to strictly adhere to all legal requirements for signature collection,” she said. “Any circulator caught breaking the law should be held accountable for their actions.”

Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, most recently in Ohio last November. This fall, voters will weigh in on the legalization of recreational marijuana in North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida. In May, the federal government began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

The Nebraska initiatives are part of broader efforts by left-leaning groups and state lawmakers to force public votes on measures opposed by GOP lawmakers when partisan gerrymandering blocks Democrats from power in legislatures. It was a successful tactic for marijuana legalization advocates, but also for abortion rights advocates.

Opponents of such measures have filed lawsuits to prevent them from voting, and Republican-leaning states have also tried to restrict citizens’ ability to bypass lawmakers through ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments.

Hilgers and other Republicans oppose their state’s marijuana initiatives, and the attorney general immediately faced questions about scheduling his news conference on the same day as the ballot initiative certification deadline. But Hilgers said it took that long to uncover the problems, and petitions for any initiative receive similar scrutiny.

The attorney general’s press conference came a day after a former Nebraska Republican lawmaker filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of marijuana initiatives. Former state Sen. John Kuehn, a Republican, said he believed he could prove too many signatures were invalid, but the secretary of state improperly impeded his efforts to build his case before the certification deadline.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana collected more than 114,000 signatures — far more than the roughly 86,000 needed — for each of the two petitions. One would allow medical marijuana, and the other would regulate the state’s medical marijuana industry.

It’s the group’s third effort to put the issue on the ballot. In 2020, opponents successfully sued to keep a measure off the ballot, and in 2022, supporters had only months to gather signatures and failed to get enough.

The Nebraska criminal case came after officials in Florida and Kansas accused two petition circulators of forging voter signatures during campaigns to vote on an abortion rights measure in Florida and to allow the No Labels party to put candidates on the ballot of Kansas voting. Neither successful petition appears to have depended on signatures submitted by the two.

In the Nebraska criminal case, Michael Egbert, of Grand Island, is charged with one count of falsely swearing a circulator’s affidavit on a petition, which is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to to 10,000 dollars. The sheriff’s deputy’s affidavit said Egbert’s questionable signatures were collected from mid-February to June.

A phone call to a number listed for Egbert was not returned, and he did not immediately respond to a Facebook message Friday. His attorney, Robert Alexander, declined to comment.

Groups supporting ballot initiatives in Nebraska typically pay for circulators because of a requirement that signatures come from at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties. The practice is legal. The deputy’s statement said Egbert worked mostly in his home county and did not work outside of Nebraska.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

TOPICS
CANNABIS