LINCOLN — The conservative campaign seeking to reshape Lincoln municipal elections turned in a second set of signatures Wednesday in hopes of reaching the November ballot.
Good Government Lincoln, the group led by former state Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln, announced Wednesday that they were again turning in more than 9,000 signatures across three petitions seeking to amend the Lincoln City Charter.
The proposed charter amendments would move the dates of city elections from odd years to even years, let certain residents within a 3-mile buffer of Lincoln city limits vote in municipal elections and limit future Lincoln City Council members to two consecutive four-year terms.
This is the second time the campaign has turned in signatures. The first time, more than 65% of signatures were rejected, with a majority flagged as possibly fraudulent. To date, six out-of-state circulators have been arrested. Law enforcement is searching for a seventh.
The campaign restarted Aug. 5. Supporters need at least 4,981 valid signatures on each petition from this new batch of signatures.
The Lancaster County Election Commission, which flagged signatures suspected to be fraudulent the first time, will again be charged with reviewing the signatures.
“The support we’ve seen from the people of Lincoln to overcome the obstacles we faced with our initial turn-in has been phenomenal,” Fulton, a former state tax commissioner under former Gov. Pete Ricketts, said in a statement. “The voters are ready for a government that’s more accountable, more representative and has more voter participation.”
Fulton is receiving support from Axiom Strategies, a multistate consulting firm some of the highest-ranking Republicans in Nebraska hire to run their campaigns.
The Good Government Lincoln campaign is not the only one to face questions of allegedly fraudulent signatures. As of Wednesday, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the investigation has expanded to four statewide ballot measures and the nonpartisan bid for Nebraska governor by former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha.
The arrested circulators are being extradited to Nebraska. A few of them helped with the Lindstrom petitions. The same signature-gathering firm helped with Good Government Lincoln, Lindstrom and at least one statewide measure related to K-12 and collegiate sports.
The Lincoln charter campaign and Axiom Strategies have thanked law enforcement and local election officials for their work, denied knowledge of any wrongdoing, and said they support arrests and prosecutions. They are considering their own civil action against the “fraudsters.”
City Councilman Brodey Weber, chair of the Lincoln City Council, criticized Good Government Lincoln for restarting signature gathering during the active criminal investigation.
If there are enough valid signatures, Lincoln city officials would have until Sept. 1 to confirm placement of the Lincoln city charter amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot. The deadline for state election officials to certify the statewide ballot is Sept. 11.
Originally published on nebraskaexaminer.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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