{"id":78246,"date":"2024-10-08T12:03:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T20:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/10\/08\/nebraska-medical-marijuana-initiative-sponsors-push-back-against-state-officials-signature-fraud-claims\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T19:46:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T03:46:43","slug":"nebraska-medical-marijuana-initiative-sponsors-push-back-against-state-officials-signature-fraud-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/10\/08\/nebraska-medical-marijuana-initiative-sponsors-push-back-against-state-officials-signature-fraud-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Push Back Against State Officials\u2019 Signature Fraud Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would make little sense to penalize a voter for purported mistakes that occur after they affix their signature on a petition.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sponsors of Nebraska\u2019s medical cannabis ballot measures are pushing back on the state\u2019s chief election official for questioning nearly 100,000 signatures, which they say threatens \u201cthe initiative right altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) and Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) entered court filings questioning the validity of roughly 49,000 signatures on each of two medical cannabis petitions<\/a>. They alleged that more than half involved \u201cnotary malfeasance.\u201d Evnen asked the court to determine the actual number of valid signatures and void the election results if there aren\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the three sponsors of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said Monday that Evnen has not alleged any \u201cintentional wrongdoing\u201d as required under the law and ignores past legal precedents \u201cin his effort to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Nebraska voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven worse, Nebraska\u2019s highest election official advances a burden shifting framework that threatens to undermine and eliminate the initiative right altogether,\u201d the sponsors\u2019 brief states.<\/p>\n

Timeline of the lawsuit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evnen on September 13 certified the campaign\u2019s two measures\u2014which would legalize and regulate the drug for medical use\u2014for the November 5 ballot. Evnen confirmed nearly 90,000 valid signatures on each cannabis petition. The campaign needs at least 86,499 valid signatures. Early voting has already begun.<\/p>\n

On September 12, John Kuehn, a former state senator and former State Board of Health member, filed a lawsuit challenging the legal sufficiency of the ballot measures. Kuehn named Evnen and the three campaign sponsors in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong allowed the complaints from Evnen and Kuehn to move forward while narrowing Kuehn\u2019s lawsuit to approximately 17,000 signatures<\/a> on each petition to define \u201cclerical and technical errors\u201d as opposed to actual invalidities.<\/p>\n

Hilgers announced a statewide investigation the same day that Evnen certified the November ballot, looking into fraud, malfeasance and \u201cirregularities\u201d specifically on the cannabis petitions.<\/p>\n

One paid circulator from Grand Island and one notary from York have been charged as a result of the investigation. In a legal filing last week, Hilgers said more charges could be coming and specifically implicated 10 more circulators or notaries by name, including one of the ballot sponsors.<\/p>\n

There are four other measures on the November 5 ballot, but Hilgers has announced an investigation only into the medical cannabis measures.<\/p>\n

The secretary of state\u2019s duties<\/strong><\/p>\n

A brief from the Nebraska Attorney General\u2019s Office in support of Evnen states the legal concept of \u201cstanding\u201d\u2014whether a controversy exists for a case to even proceed in court\u2014\u201ckeeps both courts and litigants in their proper lanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilgers and his office echoed Kuehn\u2019s attorneys\u2019 contention that if a measure is legally or constitutionally insufficient, Evnen\u2019s duties change. Any uncertainty, Hilgers\u2019s office continued, \u201cfrustrates the Secretary\u2019s proper execution and administration of those duties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConcluding that the Secretary lacks standing would improperly restrict his ability to carry out his constitutional role and do what the Election Act requires,\u201d the brief states.<\/p>\n

Kuehn and his attorneys defended Evnen\u2019s ability to bring the amended claim against the ballot sponsors and pointed to the Nebraska Constitution\u2019s sections on citizen-led petitions.<\/p>\n

Kuehn\u2019s attorneys write that the constitution is \u201cself-executing\u201d and that no state law can change or impede Evnen\u2019s constitutional mandate to prevent certification of legally insufficient ballot measures. Should Evnen get new information, which they say includes Hilgers\u2019 investigation, the constitution requires Evnen to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis duty is plainly a legal interest in the subject of this litigation,\u201d Kuehn\u2019s brief states.<\/p>\n

Should Judge Strong dismiss Evnen\u2019s claim for a lack of \u201cstanding,\u201d Kuehn\u2019s attorneys requested that he be allowed to add the challenged signatures to his batch of challenges.<\/p>\n

\u2018The precious right of initiative\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ballot sponsors\u2019 attorneys argue that no Nebraska court has ever invalidated a petition signature based on an alleged error of a third-party notary. They note that the Nebraska Supreme Court, in 1919, did allow signatures to be invalidated based on widespread circulator fraud, but the case has never been extended to notaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would make little sense to penalize a voter for purported mistakes that occur after they affix their signature on a petition, and for which they have no responsibility or control,\u201d the ballot sponsors\u2019 attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

Evnen\u2019s argument, the attorneys argue, is that \u201ca single error\u2014whatever the reason\u2014is tantamount to pervasive and widespread fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

They contend that Evnen is not authorized under any state law or regulation to request such a remedy of \u201cwholesale invalidation\u201d and that Evnen\u2019s role is to verify signature requirements before placing a measure on the ballot and confirm the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n

In their argument, the sponsors\u2019 attorneys point to a 2022 case in North Dakota where the secretary of state invalidated 15,740 otherwise valid signatures because they came from a certain notary. The North Dakota Supreme Court reversed the action and refused to invalidate a greater number of petitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of safeguarding the precious right of initiative is ensuring that political opponents cannot bury the electorate in legal bills based on threadbare allegations of technical mistakes,\u201d the ballot sponsors\u2019 attorneys said. \u201cThis is particularly true when the political opponent is the State\u2019s highest election official\u2014the same one who has already certified the initiatives he now attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

JD Vance Says \u2018Bags Of Marijuana\u2019 And Candy Laced With THC And Fentanyl Are Coming Across The Border, Blaming Biden-Harris Immigration Policy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Push Back Against State Officials\u2019 Signature Fraud Claims<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Push Back Against State Officials\u2019 Signature Fraud Claims<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt would make little sense to penalize a voter for purported mistakes that occur after they affix their signature on a petition.\u201d By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner The sponsors of Nebraska\u2019s medical cannabis ballot measures are pushing back on the state\u2019s chief election official for questioning nearly 100,000 signatures, whichContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78247,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78246\/revisions\/78247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}