(Picture credit State of Nebraska)
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled 7-0 on Friday to uphold the state’s medical marijuana ballot initiatives, following a challenge from former State Senator John Kuehn as well as Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers.
“We determine that the district court did not err as a matter of law when it did not find that signatures on all petition pages notarized by a notary lost the presumption of validity based solely on improper notarization of one or more petition pages. We reject Kuehn’s and the Secretary’s assignment of error in this regard,” the opinion, written by Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke, stated.
The Attorney General’s Office released a statement, saying, “Today is a sad day for election integrity in Nebraska. The medical marijuana petition effort used fraud to get on the ballot and abused the notary process and the laws of the state. We disagree with the court’s ruling but will follow the law as it stands.”
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling. “For years, Nebraskans have spoken with absolute clarity on this issue, Crista Eggers, the executive director for NMM, said. “They signed petitions in record numbers. They showed up to vote. And they made their will unmistakably clear. Today’s ruling confirms that the voices of the people cannot be erased by political obstruction or legal maneuvering.”
The lawsuit challenging the validity of the ballot initiatives came as Jacy Todd, a notary from York, and Michael Egbert, a circulator, were both convicted for their role in perpetuating fraud in the Nebraska medical marijuana campaign.
While only two people have been charged so far, the Attorney General’s Office in legal briefs has alleged the fraud perpetuated on the campaign was likely much more extensive.
In court filings, the office alleged that “the decision to cheat came from the very top of the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana.” The document put the blame on Eggers, citing a text message to a petition gatherer where she states, “We don’t follow the rules anymore.”
Nebraska statute requires that all petition signatures be signed by a notary in the presence of the person who gathered the signatures. Both Kuehn and Hilgers allege that Eggers was likely putting her notary seal on petitions while the petition gatherer was not present.
The Supreme Court decision comes as law enforcement continues to investigate fraud among all four 2026 statewide ballot initiatives.
This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.