Lancaster County Refers 13,300 Lincoln Petition Signatures to Police as 67.6% of Rejections Are Flagged Fraudulent
Updated
Updated · Nebraska Examiner · Aug 6
Lancaster County Refers 13,300 Lincoln Petition Signatures to Police as 67.6% of Rejections Are Flagged Fraudulent
3 articles · Updated · Nebraska Examiner · Aug 6
Summary
More than 13,300 signatures on three Good Government Lincoln petitions were referred to law enforcement after Lancaster County election officials flagged them as suspected fraudulent.
67.6% of all rejected signatures carried the “suspected fraudulent” label, far ahead of other rejection reasons including voters not registered in Nebraska at 12.1%, not registered in Lincoln at 9.9%, and duplicates at 2.1%.
Nearly 10,400 signatures were validated overall, leaving each proposed charter amendment short of the 4,981-signature threshold needed to reach Lincoln’s Nov. 3 ballot; supporters said Wednesday they would restart signature gathering before the Sept. 1 certification deadline.
Tony Fulton’s campaign backed prosecution of any fraudsters but said Lincoln officials had not yet provided it the same records released through a public-records request, while the mayor’s office, county attorney, sheriff and attorney general declined comment.
The referral revives scrutiny of Nebraska petition drives after a 2024 medical cannabis case in which investigators found at least 200 fraudulent signatures, and advocates now accuse Attorney General Mike Hilgers of applying a different standard to political allies.