- Lancaster County’s election commissioner has flagged signatures on both Nebraska sports betting petitions as potentially fraudulent.
- Tax Relief Nebraska filed more than 201,000 signatures for the constitutional amendment and roughly 146,000 for the companion measure.
- The amendment needs about 125,800 valid names, so roughly 63% of its signatures must survive verification.
- Nebraska validated 3,358 of 5,765 signatures on a candidate petition this month, a 58% rate that kept it off the ballot.
LINCOLN, Neb. – Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen has flagged signatures on both Nebraska sports betting petitions as potentially fraudulent, pulling the proposed Nov. 3 ballot measures into an election-fraud investigation that has already produced five arrests. The same case kept a candidate for governor off the November ballot last week.
The Amendment Needs 125,800 Valid Names To Qualify
Tax Relief Nebraska filed more than 201,000 signatures on the Online Sports Wagering Authorization Constitutional Amendment and roughly 146,000 on the Online Sports Wagering Regulation Initiative in late June, ahead of the filing deadline. The Nebraska Constitution sets the bar at 10% of registered voters for an initiative that amends the constitution and 7% for one that enacts a statute, measured against registration at the filing deadline.
The secretary of state’s July 1 voter registration report counted 1,258,210 registered voters statewide, which puts the amendment’s threshold near 125,800 valid signatures and the statutory measure’s near 88,100. Set against what was filed, the amendment has to clear verification at about 63% and the statutory measure at about 60%.
Both petitions must also carry signatures from 5% of the registered voters in 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties, a distribution test the statewide totals do not settle.
Five Fraud Arrests Already Sank One Petition
Five people were arrested this month on suspicion of felony election fraud in Nebraska, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, in a case that began with proposed charter amendments in Lincoln.
The first measurement of what that did to a statewide petition came a week later. The secretary of state’s office announced Aug. 14 that Brett Lindstrom’s nonpartisan petition for governor produced 3,358 valid signatures out of 5,765 submitted, against a requirement of 4,000 valid names including at least 750 from each of the three congressional districts. That is a 58% validation rate, below what either betting petition can afford.
The office said a significant number of signatures were found to be fraudulent and that three of the people arrested earlier in the month had circulated a number of the pages. It passed the information to the Nebraska attorney general’s office.
A Sponsor Says The Signature Cushion Holds
Jordan McGrain, one of the petition sponsors, said this week that he is confident both petitions will have more than enough valid signatures to make the Nov. 3 ballot. Neither petition’s validity rate has been published, and county verification is still running.
Fraud Voids Whole Pages, Not Single Names
The verification procedure explains why a circulator case moves numbers faster than a raw signature cushion suggests. The county official checks the circulator’s oath and its notarization before looking at a single signer, and if that provision is invalid, no signature on the page is verified or counted. One compromised circulator takes every line on every page, regardless of whether the voters who signed were real and registered.
The 93 county election offices do that work and must return the verified petitions within 40 days of receiving them from the secretary of state, with up to 10 additional days in unusual circumstances. The secretary of state then totals the valid signatures from all 93 counties and certifies any measure that clears the constitutional standard.
Nebraska Wagering Stays Retail-Only For Now
The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission says online and mobile sports wagering are not currently authorized in the state, and that wagers must be placed in person at an approved sportsbook window or kiosk inside a licensed racetrack enclosure. The constitutional amendment would authorize online wagering; the companion initiative would set the tax framework around it and direct 70% of the tax revenue to property tax credits, the purpose the sponsoring committee is named for.
Offshore sportsbooks reach Nebraskans without a license from the commission, which is what still separates Nebraska gambling sites from a licensed and taxed mobile market. Nebraska has been absent from that map since retail books opened at its racinos, even as online gambling sites for USA players expanded elsewhere.
Certification, Ballot Titles And A 35% Passage Bar
Verification is not complete in all 93 counties, and the secretary of state has not certified either measure. Certifying both would put Nebraska’s place among the states with online sports betting to a vote on Nov. 3.
If both reach the ballot, the attorney general writes the ballot titles and the secretary of state holds a public hearing in each congressional district no more than eight weeks before the election. Passage takes more votes for than against and support from at least 35% of everyone casting a ballot in the election.