The major legal challenge against two medical marijuana petitions approved by voters in November was dismissed Tuesday in Lancaster County District Court.
The lawsuit brought by former state senator John Kuehn, assisted by Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers, accused the campaign’s signature gathering efforts of widespread misconduct and fraud.
District Judge Susan Strong said in her legal-order, the plaintiffs failed to prove enough signatures had reason to be invalidated to cancel the petitions outright.
In all, Strong said the “presumption of validity” was lost about for 711 signatures on the legalization petition and 826 on the regulatory petition. Far less than the amount it would take to drop either petition below the point of certification — the Nebraska Examiner reports.
Both petitions needed 86,499 valid signatures to be certified. Evnen was legally allowed to stop counting signatures once that number was hit, and exceeded by 3,500. Both petitions did reach that excess number.
On election day, both ballot measures passed with around 70% percent approval.
It is likely this ruling will be appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court.