Petition fraud investigation expands to all 2026 Nebraska-wide ballot measures

As for how many signatures are under investigation, Houchin said: “thousands and thousands.” 

“We don’t even have a count yet,” Houchin said. “It’s that many. It’s very time-consuming.”

The sheriff’s office is also reviewing possibly fraudulent signatures on petitions for former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom’s nonpartisan bid for governor. He did not gather enough valid signatures, and in Lancaster County alone, just under 25% of his signatures were valid.

The Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office said Friday it had forwarded allegations of wrongdoing on Lindstrom’s petitions to the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. Lindstrom said that he supported the referral and that he was unaware of the suspected wrongdoing.

The investigation now covers nearly every petition this election cycle, which together account for more than 750,000 signatures.

The Lincoln Journal Star first reported that the investigation had expanded to the gaming initiatives last week and that multiple county election officials had referred suspected fraud on various petitions to authorities.

A spokesperson for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the Nebraska Examiner that it has not received any information suggesting fraudulent signatures on statewide petitions seeking to establish the Nebraska Working People Party or America First Party.

Law enforcement and election officials have also not indicated any suspected wrongdoing on the petitions of two nonpartisan candidates who qualified for two Nebraska congressional races.

Initial defendants waived extradition

This investigation began with the discovery of thousands of allegedly fraudulent signatures for three proposed amendments to the Lincoln City Charter from the campaign Good Government Lincoln. 

Authorities arrested five out-of-state circulators, and Houchin said Wednesday that law enforcement arrested one more circulator: Michael Smith, 28, of St. Louis. Law enforcement is searching for one more suspect, Houchin added.

The original five defendants each face two felony counts for falsely swearing to their circulator’s oaths on multiple petition pages. Each has waived extradition, Houchin said. Of the five, two are from Nevada, and the others are from Florida, Missouri and New Jersey.

Houchin said he doesn’t know when the defendants will be returned, “and that’s for safety reasons.”

Felony charges would play out in Lancaster County District Court. 

“We continue our investigation into this,” Houchin said. “Again, this one is going to take us a while to complete.”

Houchin said petition organizers have been “very” cooperative and met with law enforcement.

“They are giving us everything that we want,” Houchin said.

Ballot measure campaigns respond

Former state Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar and University of Nebraska Regent Rob Schafer of Beatrice, the two most prominent sponsors behind the Fairness For Girls initiative related to sex-specific eligibility for public school sports, could not be reached for comment.

Jessica Flanagain, a partner with conservative consulting firm Axiom Strategies, which is assisting the sports constitutional amendment and Lincoln City Charter amendments, told the Journal Star that she does not expect the suspected fraud on the sports petitions would jeopardize its place on the November ballot. Supporters of the Lincoln City Charter amendments restarted their efforts, and Flanagain had said they’re confident of their chances on round two.

“Fairness For Girls was a much larger project,” Flanagain said, according to the Journal Star. “There were a lot more managers, so one manager couldn’t tank an entire initiative petition.”

The Respect Nebraska Voters campaign, which seeks to raise the threshold to change voter-approved laws from 33 of 49 state senators (60%) to 40 of 49 (80%), declined to comment Wednesday. The proposed constitutional amendment would also prohibit certain laws that could make it harder for the people to run statewide initiative or referendum petitions.

The final two petitions, related to online gaming, come from the group known as Tax Relief Nebraska. WarHorse Casino is a key supporter of that effort.

Lynne McNally, director of government relations for WarHorse, said the firm that the gaming campaign used validated signatures as they went and sought to toss any invalid signatures from the beginning.

“I can assure you that if there was an individual who was engaging in that type of activity, not only would we not have turned those in, but that person would not have been working for them anymore,” McNally said Wednesday.

She continued: “It’s not in anyone’s interest to submit signatures that you suspect are fraudulent. Why would anyone do that? I mean, that just doesn’t make any sense.”

Tax Relief Nebraska and Respect Nebraska Voters used different firms from the one subcontracted for Fairness For Girls and Good Government Lincoln.

McNally has been involved in several successful petitions, including those in 2020 for casinos. She said the campaigns need so many circulators, notaries and others that “it’s almost an unwieldy number.” However, if checks and balances are in place, she said, bad actors can be weeded out.

“I am confident that we got a sufficient number of signatures to make the ballot,” McNally said.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen must confirm by Sept. 11 whether the four measures have enough valid signatures to certify the Nov. 3 ballot.

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said in a Friday statement that investigators will follow the evidence and report findings to the appropriate prosecuting agency for review.

Said Wagner: “We will continue to safeguard the integrity of this criminal investigation from attempts by any party, group or affiliation to use them for political purposes.”

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