A Grand Island man is facing a felony charge after allegedly falsifying signatures on petitions to add medical marijuana issues to the November ballot.
Hall County Attorney Martin Klein and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced a class 4 felony charge related to fraudulent signatures found on the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation and Medical Cannabis Patient Protection petitions.
The two held a press conference Friday morning to discuss the charge. A press release stated the investigation began after Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet flagged 17 pages of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation petition as having signatures that were potentially fraudulent. Overstreet also identified 21 pages of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection petition received by Hall County as having potentially fraudulent signatures.
“Petition circulators and voters alike should know and understand that this office – and all election offices across Nebraska – take elections and signature verification very seriously,” Overstreet said in the release. “We go through each petition line by line by line, signature by signature – just like we do for signatures on early voting ballot envelopes.”
All of the pages with suspected fraudulent signatures were traced back to one petition circulator, Michael Egbert of Grand Island.
“What we have identified, in terms of irregularities, beyond just the fraudulent signatures is that there are at least several thousand signatures that are implicated,” Hilgers said in Friday’s press conference. “Our work is still ongoing.”
Egbert is being charged with falsely swearing to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition. The penalty ranges from probation to a maximum of two years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
The petitions were circulated locally, turned into the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office and then distributed by the Secretary of State to county election offices across Nebraska to conduct signature verification using each county’s voter registration records.
“Nebraskans expect secure elections,” Hilgers said in the release. “As we head into election season, Nebraskans should be confident that the election and law enforcement officials will work together to identify and investigate fraudulent activity.”
Hilgers said the investigation is ongoing.
“These fraudulent signatures (are) largely localized to Hall County,” Hilgers said in Friday’s press conference. “We're still working through everything. This particular circulator did have petitions in other counties, and so it is certainly possible that we will uncover additional fraudulent signatures in other counties.”
He also said that every petition would undergo the same scrutiny, no matter the issue.
“If one petition, no matter what it is, has evidence that there is fraud, I would be very confident that election officials would bring that up to their local law enforcement authorities, and I have equal confidence that those law enforcement authorities would do the right thing,” Hilgers said.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said in a Friday press release that it provides “extensive training” to all petition circulators, and that each circulator is expected to adhere to the legal expectations of signature collection.
“We are grateful for all of the Nebraskans who have not only supported us, but been the heart and soul of this fight,” Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana Campaign Manager Crista Eggers said in Friday’s release. “We look forward to November when the people’s voice on this issue will finally be heard.”
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen certified the issue Friday afternoon, announcing it would be on Nebraska's ballot in November.