Nebraska’s Republican attorney general said Friday that proponents of two measures legalize medical marijuana a could have submitted at least “several thousand” invalid signatures to get them on the ballot, suggesting the issue could ultimately prevent the proposals from becoming law.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers made the statement during a Zoom press conference in which he and a local prosecutor announced charges against a Grand Island petition distributor for fraudulently obtaining signatures on 38 pages for the two separate initiatives.
While the problem was “local,” Hilgers said there were other irregularities affecting many other signatures and that the defendant had not been involved in distributing petitions outside Nebraska.
Hilgers immediately faced questions about the timing of his announcement, which came on the last day the secretary of state’s office could certify initiatives for the November ballot. Hilgers and other conservative Republicans oppose the measures, but Hilgers said petitions for initiatives would face similar scrutiny.
Earlier this year, officials accused two petition distributors of forging voter signatures during campaigns to put an abortion rights measure on the ballot in Florida and to allow the No Labels party to put candidates on the Kansas ballot. Neither of the successful petition drives appears to have relied on the signatures the two submitted.
Hilgers said he had briefed Secretary of State Bob Evnen on the findings of his office’s investigation, but Evnen, also a Republican, would have to do his own analysis. However, the attorney general said that even if the initiatives are certified for the ballot now, a court could later throw them out, block the vote count on them or declare the new laws invalid because of the irregularities.
An email and phone call to Evnen’s spokesman seeking comment on his plans did not immediately receive a response.
“We have identified a number of irregularities,” Hilgers told reporters. “Our work is still ongoing.”
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana collected more than 114,000 signatures — well over the 86,000 needed — for each of two petitions: one to allow marijuana for medical use and the other to regulate the medical marijuana industry in the state.
Emails to Nebraska medical marijuana residents seeking comment were not immediately returned.
In May, the federal government began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational use, most recently in Ohio last November. This fall, voters will cast their ballots on whether to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota, South Dakota And Florida.
