Trial Over Nebraska Medical Cannabis Petitions Focuses on Petition Signatures

The trial over Nebraska’s two medical cannabis ballot initiatives began Tuesday in Lancaster County District Court, highlighting ballot measures in the state, the different groups involved in the campaign, and notary publics, the Nebraska Examiner reports. Both proposals – which together if approved by voters would legalize medical cannabis in the state – remain on ballots but the trial outcome could invalidate the election results. 

Attorneys for John Kuehn, a former state senator and former State Board of Health member who filed the lawsuit, and Secretary of State Bob Evnen, a defendant in the lawsuit, sought to frame the case around whether the medical cannabis campaign followed state rules. In a legal brief in the case, Evnen, along with Attorney General Mike Hilgers, contend the campaign engaged in “fraud” and the “malfeasance” of notaries involved “strips the presumption of validity” of thousands of submitted signatures. During arguments on Tuesday, Deputy Solicitor General Zach Viglianco claimed that the campaign cheated in obtaining signatures. 

Sydney Hayes, an attorney for the ballot sponsors, argued that plaintiffs don’t have enough evidence of “fraud” and that, at most, one petition contains 706 questionable signatures while the other contains 394 questionable signatures. Advocates need 86,499 valid signatures on both petitions for them to remain valid, and nearly 90,000 signatures were verified on each petition. 

David Wilson Jr., associate general counsel for the Secretary of State’s Office and director of licensing, who oversees the work of notaries in the state, said that notaries give “presumptive evidence” over a matter’s legal validity and must physically witness an “oath” and confirm the identity of whose documents they are notarizing – in this case, the petitions and their signatures.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office alleges that thousands of signatures were collected where those requirements weren’t met and Wilson testified that he was unaware of his office having criminal prosecutorial authority over notaries or of circumstances where one invalidated document led to the invalidation of every document approved by a particular notary. At least one notary, Jacy Todd, has been criminally charged and faces 24 counts of alleged malfeasance. Wilson noted that he is unaware of a notary who has ever been criminally charged for malfeasance.