Two people, including city councilman, charged with falsely swearing to circulator’s affidavit in Auburn mayoral recall effort

Two organizers of an unsuccessful 2025 effort to recall the mayor of Auburn face felony charges for alleged misconduct during the signature-gathering process.

Amanda Powell, who led the effort, and Johnny Curttright, a member of the Auburn City Council who supported it, each face two counts of falsely swearing to a circulator’s affidavit.

The cases are being prosecuted by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. Nemaha County Attorney Angelo Ligouri filed a request on Sept. 2 for the appointment of a special prosecutor from the office to handle the cases due to a “potential conflict of interest in pursuing the investigation and filing of charges.”

In a statement, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said the charges are the result of “an investigation into allegations that circulators improperly gathered signatures for a recall petition in August and September 2025.”

Petition circulators must file a sworn affidavit attesting that they are a registered voter and that they personally witnessed each signature as it was signed. The circulator must sign that affidavit in the presence of a notary.

Sandy Pollack, an attorney representing Powell, declined to comment. Reached via Facebook message, Curttright also declined to comment.

The recall effort against Auburn Mayor Chris Erickson began in mid-2025, according to Facebook posts from Powell and local news coverage. Erickson ran unopposed in the mayoral election in 2022. Prior to that, he served on the Auburn City Council.

For a recall to be placed on the ballot, circulators must gather signatures from registered voters amounting to 35% of the total vote cast in the most recent election for that particular office. Circulators collected 347 signatures, which was more than the required amount.

In a statement posted to Facebook in September 2025, Powell said more than half of the signatures were invalidated because of a “procedural issue in notarization.” News Channel Nebraska reported in November that the Nemaha County Clerk was unable to verify that Powell actually witnessed the signatures or that a notary was present when she signed the circulator’s affidavit.

Powell’s initial appearance is scheduled for November. Curttright is set to appear in court on Sept. 22.