Petition Circulator and Key Witness for State Testifies in Trial to Void Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative
LINCOLN–(KFOR Oct. 31)–In the trial to void two medical marijuana ballot measures on next Tuesday’s ballot, one of the State of Nebraska’s key witnesses took the stand in Lancaster County District Court on Thursday, walking through petition after petition, explaining she didn’t sign them in person and in front of a notary, as required.
Jennifer Henning of Omaha was a circulator, saying she also shared text messages where she would drop off ballots at a sponsor’s home to be notarized later. The government‘s argument is that because of this, thousands of petitions — and the signatures on them — should be tossed and, in effect, the results from Tuesday’s election on the issue of medical cannabis should be voided. Henning claims she was doing as instructed by organizers — signing petitions she didn’t collect, then dropping them off for a notary to sign at a later time.
In the last part of testimony on Thursday, the government asked Henning about her criminal background. She said she was found guilty on two counts of insurance fraud — and is on probation right now.
The state said Thursday that the trial is moving along slower than usual. It was scheduled to wrap up Friday, but now expects to continue into Monday — the day before Election Day.