'Significant number' of fraudulent signatures sinks Lindstrom's bid in Nebraska governor's race

An independent candidate for governor failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the general election ballot.

The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office announced Friday that Brett Lindstrom’s campaign submitted 5,765 signatures. Of those, only 3,358 were validated.

Lindstrom needed at least 4,000 valid signatures from registered Nebraska voters, including 750 from each congressional district.

The Secretary of State's Office said in a news release that "a significant number of signatures were found to be fraudulent."

"A number of the submitted petition pages containing fraudulent signatures had been circulated by three of the individuals who were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of circulator fraud," the news release said. The Secretary of State's office noted it has passed along information on the suspected fraudulent signatures to the Attorney General's office.

Earlier this month, five people were arrested in connection with more than 13,000 suspected fraudulent signatures turned in for three petitions seeking to change the way Lincoln holds elections.

When Lindstrom announced his candidacy, earlier this year, he cited Nebraska’s state budget, which is in a structural deficit, and the economy as key factors in his decision to run for governor. He said Nebraska is at a turning point, and the decisions made by leaders today will impact generations to come.

"Nebraskans signed these petitions because they know something is wrong and they're tired of being told everything is fine," Lindstrom said in a statement. "In three and a half years, this administration has spent through a historic cash reserve, raided cash funds and made billions in commitments with no sustainable way to pay for them. Now Nebraskans are being handed the bill."

Lindstrom has said he was running on the independent ticket because he doesn't want to vouch for either political party, but rather all Nebraskans in the race against incumbent Republican candidate Jim Pillen and Democratic challenger Lynne Walz this November.

Lindstrom, who spent eight years as a state senator, was briefly a candidate for the Republican nomination for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, though he dropped out in January. He also ran for that seat in 2012 but lost in the primary election.

Four years ago, Lindstrom finished third in the Republican gubernatorial primary, behind Pillen and Charles Herbster.

He had named Mike Picard of Omaha, a Navy veteran and director of ENVY Volleyball Club, as his running mate.

His failure to make the ballot leaves Pillen, Walz and Legal Marijuana Now candidate Rick Beard as the confirmed candidates for governor.