Brett Lindstrom will not appear on the 2026 general election ballot as a nonpartisan candidate for Nebraska governor. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office announced Friday that Lindstrom’s campaign submitted 5,765 petition signatures, but only 3,358 were validated.
State law requires candidates seeking the governor’s office by petition to collect at least 4,000 valid signatures from registered Nebraska voters. Candidates also must have at least 750 valid signatures from registered voters in each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts.
The Secretary of State’s office says a significant number of the submitted signatures were found to be fraudulent. Several petition pages containing fraudulent signatures were circulated by three people arrested earlier this month on suspicion of petition circulator fraud.
Lindstrom is blaming petition fraud for his failure to qualify for the November ballot in Nebraska’s governor’s race. The Lindstrom campaign says it hired a professional signature-collection firm about a month ago to gather some of the signatures needed for ballot access.
The campaign says it has since learned that individuals working for the firm did not perform their work in good faith, resulting in 1,543 signatures being invalidated. Lindstrom says he was not aware of the alleged activity and says his campaign and thousands of Nebraskans who signed petitions honestly are victims of petition fraud.
“I am deeply disappointed, not just for myself and our campaign, but for every Nebraskan who signed a petition in good faith, every volunteer who gave their time and every person who believed they were participating in a fair and lawful process,” Lindstrom said in a statement. “They did their part. We did our part. The unlawful actions of a few should not be allowed to erase the voices of thousands.”
Lindstrom says they are pursuing every legal avenue available and intend to hold those responsible accountable.