Judge won’t block counting of votes on Nebraska medical marijuana initiatives

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A judge denied a request Friday to delay counting votes on Nebraska’s medical marijuana ballot initiatives.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit over the initiatives, former State Sen. John Kuehn, had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.

It asked Judge Susan Strong to order election officials to hold off on tabulating the results until a trial about the petitions is over.

SEE ALSO: Fraud trial begins for Nebraska medical marijuana petitions

The trial over allegations of fraud by petition circulators and notaries was scheduled to end Friday but has now been extended through Monday.

Election officials can start counting early ballots at 8 a.m. Monday.

Kuehn argued that votes on the initiatives shouldn’t be counted until Strong rules on whether they legally made the ballot.

His filing quoted a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that says, “The purpose of a temporary restraining order is only to maintain the status quo until a court can hear both parties on the propriety of a temporary injunction.”

SEE ALSO: Thousands more signatures on Nebraska medical marijuana petitions under scrutiny

The motion also lays out some of the testimony offered in court so far.

Circulator Jennifer Henning said she dropped petition pages off at the home of a notary public, who notarized them without Henning there.

Henning said that notary was Crista Eggers, who is also one of the petition sponsors.

SEE ALSO: Nebraska notary public charged in fraudulent petition signature probe

State law requires that circulators sign petition pages and that notaries notarize them in each other’s presence.

But according to the filing, Eggers told Henning in a text message: “As long as you just sign your petitions, I am comfortable notarizing.”

A civil fraud investigator with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office testified that more than 30,000 signatures on each petition were “tainted by notary malfeasance,” the filing says.

SEE ALSO: Nebraska judge dismisses 2 challenges to medical marijuana petitions, lets 2 others stand