A Hall County man has been charged by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers for allegedly submitting fraudulent signatures collected for the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana petition drive.
Hilgers announced the charges Friday morning — notably the same day the November general election ballot must be finalized — along side Hall County Attorney Martin Klein, alleging that 17 pages of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation petition and 21 pages of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection petition were flagged by the Hall County Election Commissioner as “having potentially fraudulent signatures.”
“The fraud that we have uncovered so far has implicated dozens of signature pages, petition forms, and included things like names of deceased individuals, misspelled names, incorrect birthdates, and clearly fabricated signatures and names on these particular forms,” said Hilgers during the conference.
Hilgers says all of the pages with suspected fraudulent signatures were traced back to one petition circulator, Michael Egbert of Grand Island, who is now charged with false swearing to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition, a Class IV felony. If found guilty, Egbert’s penalty could range from probation to a maximum of two years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
“Nebraskans expect secure elections. 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,” stated Attorney General Mike Hilgers.
In light of this case, NMM Campaign Manager Crista Eggers said in a statement that their campaign “provides extensive training to all petition circulators.”
“Circulators are held to an extremely high standard and are required to strictly follow all legal requirements for collecting signatures. Any circulators caught violating the law should be held accountable for their actions,” said Eggers. “We are grateful to the Hall County Attorney and Attorney General for looking into any petition irregularities and working to protect campaigns and the integrity of the initiative process.”