A lawsuit has been filed in Lancaster County challenging two medical marijuana petitions set to appear on the November 5 ballot in Nebraska.
The suit, submitted just before the deadline for certifying the measures for the November ballot, claims the petitions are insufficient for several reasons.
John Kuehn, the plaintiff, stated in the lawsuit that he sought to review petition signatures from Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen. While Evnen granted access to signatures from Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster counties, the lawsuit alleges that he excluded 20 other counties from review.
Kuehn argues that many signatures are invalid, citing claims such as non-registered voters, missing addresses, mismatched birth dates, and other irregularities that he says were improperly accepted by Evnen.
At nearly the same time the lawsuit was filed, Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced a Friday morning press conference, citing “petition signature verification uncovered falsification of voter signatures in the petition process.”
Both sides of the medical marijuana legalization debate prepared legal arguments in anticipation of Evnen’s certification of two ballot initiatives.
If passed, one initiative would legalize the medical use of marijuana for those with a qualifying condition, including establishing a system of licensed dispensaries. The second initiative would provide legal protections to doctors who recommend medical marijuana.
On Aug. 30, Evnen’s office announced that both medical marijuana initiatives were expected to appear on the November ballot, noting the petitions had met the signature requirements but had not yet been certified. County offices were expected to continue verifying signatures until reaching the state’s 110% verification threshold.
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana turned in over 114,000 signatures for each initiative in early July, well above the 86,499 needed. More than 89,000 valid signatures had been confirmed by the state for each petition, and the 5% requirement for at least 51 counties, surpassing the 38 counties needed, had been met.
The effort for two separate initiatives follows a 2020 Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that blocked medical marijuana from the ballot for violating the state’s “single-subject rule,” an issue that has arisen multiple times in court. Last week, the court heard similar arguments regarding abortion and school voucher initiatives.
In July, the state Supreme Court upheld a gender-affirming care and abortion law as a single subject, siding with Attorney General Mike Hilgers.
