LINCOLN — Court records indicate new details on how law enforcement narrowed in on five out-of-state individuals arrested in connection with gathering allegedly fraudulent signatures on Lincoln petitions, which have led to 10 felony charges so far.

The five defendants each face two Class IV felony counts involving falsifying their circulator’s oath, accepting money or other things of value for signing, or offering money or other things of value in exchange for a signature on two separate petitions, according to the charges signed by Deputy Lancaster County Attorney John Schmidt. 

The five individuals facing charges and being extradited to Nebraska are:

• Jessica Davis, 23, of Boynton Beach, Florida.
• David Alijandro Johnson, 24, of Irvington, New Jersey.
• Nathan Kirschbaum, 32, of Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Jason Luciano, 32, of Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Ryan C. McKinney, 41, of St. Louis, Missouri.
• Law enforcement reviewed 10 petition pages for the five defendants. Each page had 20 signatures, except for one with 19, which Davis circulated.

An additional 8,870 signatures were flagged as potentially fraudulent across two related petitions from the same petition campaign. Those efforts would amend the city charter to move the dates of city elections to align with statewide elections and allow certain residents within 3 miles of city limits to vote in municipal elections.

Local election officials rejected 65% of the signatures the Good Government Lincoln group submitted for verification. Sponsors fell short of the 4,981 valid signatures they needed on each measure.

It’s not clear if the five defendants circulated more petition pages. Circulators sign the circulator’s affidavit on each petition page they turn in, which could lead to duplicate charges.

Lincoln City Attorney Yohance Christie denied the Nebraska Examiner’s public records request to review the petition pages Monday. Christie wrote the records “are actively being used to investigate claims of fraud,” which is an exception under state law.

Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office investigator Brian Gruber wrote in separate probable-cause affidavits for the arrests that investigators had called “several” listed signers who confirmed they didn’t sign. Investigators also reviewed each defendant’s known cellphone number and location data, which Gruber said placed them in Nebraska on the date of notarization.

State law requires the following to be printed on all petition pages: “WARNING TO PETITION SIGNERS — VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS OF LAW MAY RESULT IN THE FILING OF CRIMINAL CHARGES: Any person who signs any name other than his or her own to any petition or who is not qualified to sign the petition shall be guilty of a Class I misdemeanor. Any person who falsely swears to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition, who accepts money or other things of value for signing a petition, or who offers money or other things of value in exchange for a signature upon any petition shall be guilty of a Class IV felony.”

The Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections, also oversees notaries.

Under state law, licensed notaries must be Nebraska residents or those living in a bordering state “if such person is employed in or has a regular place of work or business in this state and the Secretary of State has obtained evidence of an address of the physical location of such employment or place of work or business prior to such appointment and commission.”

None of the five arrested individuals have an active or expired notarial commission for Nebraska, according to a database from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Prosecutors said Friday that the investigation was still in its early stages but said they did not have evidence that ballot sponsors or specific notaries committed wrongdoing. A notary could be charged with “official misconduct” for an improper notarization.

The Good Government Lincoln campaign did not respond to questions from the Examiner on Monday regarding what oversight and training ballot sponsors provided to circulators and notaries during signature collection, and whether any changes have been made since. The Examiner also asked how the campaign hired paid circulators and notaries and whether the arrested individuals assisted in other 2026 petition campaigns with the ballot sponsors.

Jessica Flanagain, a partner with the conservative political consulting firm Axiom Strategies and a consultant to Good Government Lincoln, said Friday that “circulators are only compensated for valid signatures to eliminate any incentive for fraud.”

“We eagerly await the outcome of the criminal investigation to determine the full scope of what occurred and identify all actors, at every level, who may have been involved,” Flanagain said. “We are also considering our civil options.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/08/10/court-records-reveal-new-details-among-non-nebraska-petitioners-arrested-for-suspected-fraud/