Supreme Court to decide future of medical marijuana ballot validity

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The fight over two ballot measures on Nebraska’s November 2024 ballot is heating up, and now, the Nebraska Supreme Court has stepped in.

Former State Senator John Kuehn said several notaries — and the people who check and verify signatures — did not follow the rules when signatures were collected for measures 437 and 438.

“If this case is not a case where petitions lose their presumption of validity due to notary malfeasance, then there is none,” said Andrew LaGrone, the attorney representing John Kuehn.

A district court dismissed his complaint after finding there were enough valid signatures.

But Kuehn said the court got it wrong and listed 10 errors, including how the judge handled accusations of notary misconduct and whether the petitions actually met the signature requirement.

“The district court found that the campaign manager violated the law, that campaign workers lied in notarizing over 62 circulator affidavits,” said Zachary Pohlman, the attorney representing Secretary of State Bob Evnen.

Supporters said the lawsuit is an attempt to silence Nebraskans who believe medical cannabis could bring relief to people suffering from chronic pain and severe medical conditions.

Last November, 71% of Nebraska voters approved the legalization of medical marijuana.

Organizers said they followed every step of the state’s petition requirements, gathering tens of thousands of signatures from communities across Nebraska, and want their effort respected.

“And interestingly, Secretary Even himself, when he got petitions and before certifying, he knew about fraud he didn’t impute; his own office never heard of this. So on those facts, we would ask this court to affirm the district court’s dismissal,” said Daniel Gutman, the attorney for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana.

The Nebraska Supreme Court will decide what happens next.

A timeline for a final decision has not been announced.