Most rejected Lindstrom signatures came in Lancaster County, where only 25% were approved

This is not the first petition campaign to face allegations of fraudulent signatures this year or in Lancaster County. The county is home to Nebraska’s capital city of Lincoln and the heart of state government. It’s there that five petition circulators for three related Lincoln-only ballot measures now face two felony charges each for allegedly gathering fraudulent signatures this summer.

Lindstrom fails to qualify nonpartisan bid for Nebraska governor; many signatures flagged for fraud

Three of those circulators also helped Lindstrom’s campaign, the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Friday. Lindstrom blamed those individuals for keeping him from the ballot and said he was unaware of the suspected fraudulent activity.

“We are pursuing every legal avenue available to us and intend to hold those responsible accountable,” Lindstrom said Friday in a statement.

County officials check names, addresses and dates of birth on file before turning to signatures. Fraudulent signatures include those where a suspected signer is not believed to be the voter on file.

Allegations of wrongdoing on Lindstrom’s petitions have been forwarded to Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers’ office. He served with Lindstrom for six years in the Legislature.

Lindstrom turned in 5,765 signatures for review. He needed at least 4,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot as the fourth candidate for Nebraska governor this year. His total also needed to include at least 750 signatures per congressional district. 

According to a county-by-county breakdown from the Secretary of State’s Office, Lindstrom collected signatures from 63 of Nebraska’s 93 counties statewide. In 56 of those counties, Lindstrom had at least one valid signature.

The seven counties where Lindstrom collected one or two signatures but they were all rejected were: Box Butte County (two signatures) and Arthur, Cedar, Dixon, Garden, Garfield and Kimball counties (one signature each).

About 58.2% of Lindstrom’s signatures statewide were valid. He needed a validity rate higher than 70%.

After Lancaster County, the next most rejections came in Douglas and Sarpy counties, the first and third most populous counties. However, Lindstrom had a much higher signature validity rate, more than 82%, in both of those counties.

The most valid signatures per capita came in Burt County (1.34% of 4,847 registered voters as of Aug. 1). 

Of all valid signatures, about 39% of them came from Lindstrom’s home county, Douglas, and 16.7% came from neighboring Sarpy. Lancaster County accounted for an additional 16%. About 7% of valid signatures came from Hall County, and 5% came from Adams County, both in central Nebraska.

Lindstrom’s signature gathering largely excluded the Panhandle and Sandhills, with the exception of Scotts Bluff County, where he had four valid signatures.

The general election is Nov. 3.

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