Lincoln’s Signature Scandal: 13,000 Suspected Fraudulent Signatures Referred to Law Enforcement

More than 13,300 signatures tied to a campaign to change Lincoln’s city charter have been flagged as suspected fraud and referred to law enforcement.

The signatures were submitted by Good Government Lincoln, a conservative group led by former Nebraska state senator and former state Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton. The group is trying to put three charter amendments before Lincoln voters involving term limits, election dates and voting rights for some residents outside city limits.

Lancaster County election officials rejected thousands of signatures — including more than 4,300 suspected fraudulent signatures on the term-limits petition alone.

Now the questions get bigger.

Who collected the questionable signatures? Who supervised the circulators? Were particular petition gatherers responsible for large numbers of them? And will the investigation ultimately result in criminal charges?

A law-enforcement referral is not proof that Good Government Lincoln, its organizers or its consultants committed a crime. But more than 13,000 suspected fraudulent signatures demands answers.

Nebraska politicians talk constantly about election integrity. This is where that principle gets tested.

Same rules. Same standards. Follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Dan Parsons breaks down what happened, what we know so far and what comes next in the growing Lincoln petition scandal.

#Nebraska #LincolnNE #NebraskaPolitics #ElectionIntegrity #LincolnPolitics #DanParsonsShow

Discover More Episodes

Journalism’s Power: She Kept Asking Questions. The Story Went National.

Journalism’s Power: She Kept Asking Questions. The Story Went National.

This is what holding power accountable looks like.

Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu kept digging, kept asking questions and kept pursuing the story of immigrant hiring at Pillen Family Farms, even as Gov. Jim Pillen publicly pushed back against her reporting.

Then other journalists stepped in.

The New York Times partnered with Flatwater to bring the investigation to a national audience. The Omaha World-Herald helped amplify the story in Nebraska.

It took the tenacity of a reporter, and the willingness of journalists and newsrooms to work together.

That’s journalism.

#InvestigativeJournalism #Nebraska #Journalism #Accountability #PillenFamilyFarms #FlatwaterFreePress #NewYorkTimes #OmahaWorldHerald

read more
Nebraska Story Goes National: Pillen Investigation Hits the New York Times

Nebraska Story Goes National: Pillen Investigation Hits the New York Times

What started as investigative reporting in Nebraska is now a national story.

Flatwater Free Press and The New York Times jointly published an investigation into immigrant workers and Gov. Jim Pillen’s family business.

Pillen is pushing back. I sat down with Flatwater reporter Yanqi Xu and Executive Editor Matthew Hansen to talk about what they found, the governor’s response, and why this Nebraska story is now getting national attention.

#Nebraska #JimPillen #FlatwaterFreePress #NebraskaPolitics #TheDanParsonsShow #newyorktimes

read more
What happens when a reporter keeps asking questions the governor doesn’t want to answer?

What happens when a reporter keeps asking questions the governor doesn’t want to answer?

Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu and executive editor Matthew Hansen join The Dan Parsons Show for a behind-the-scenes conversation about Xu’s reporting on Gov. Jim Pillen, Pillen Family Farms and the use of immigrant labor.

Xu recently tracked down Gov. Pillen after a news conference to ask him directly about her reporting. His response: “That’s an old story” and “It’s not true.” Pillen later accused Flatwater of being a “left-leaning news outlet” attempting to take out conservative leadership.

But this story goes back years.

Dan first met Yanqi when she and Matthew appeared on his radio show to discuss her reporting on nitrate contamination involving Pillen’s hog operations. Days later, Pillen dismissed the reporting in a radio interview and referenced Xu’s Chinese background.

In this episode, Yanqi and Matthew talk about:

• What the latest investigation found
• How Yanqi pursued the governor for answers
• Pillen’s response to the reporting
• What it’s like to become part of the story you’re covering
• The Omaha World-Herald’s coverage of the confrontation
• And what this episode says about journalism, political power and holding public officials accountable

It’s also a story about persistence: asking the question, following the evidence and showing up when the person in power would rather move on.

Subscribe to The Dan Parsons Show for independent conversations about Nebraska politics, journalism and the people shaping our state.

And for more from Dan—including the new “Off the Record” segment—join us on Patreon.

Flatwater Festival 2026: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/events/flatwater-festival-2026/

#Nebraska #JimPillen #YanqiXu #FlatwaterFreePress #Journalism #NebraskaPolitics #DanParsonsShow

read more