A ballot circulator took the stand Tuesday, affirming the Nebraskans United organization's allegations of National Ballot Access petition fraud.
National Ballot Access circulated a petition to put an initiative banning affirmative action practices in the state on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Last month, attorney J.L. Spray, who represents University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Jeff Hall, a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan, and 2008 UNL graduate Eva Sohl, filed a lawsuit against Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale, questioning the validity of 40,000 petition signatures.
Don Stenberg, attorney for the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, the group in support of the proposed ban, said 136,589 signatures were valid and should not be thrown out. On Monday, he argued that if circulators violated laws they should be prosecuted in separate trials.
William Harlak was one of many who circulated petitions for National Ballot Access. He said Tuesday he signed most of his attestation clauses, which certify that he read the petition's object statement to signers, at home and was not in the presence of a notary. By law, the attestation clause must be signed in the notary's presence.
"There were 10 to 15 people signing the oath at the same time in the Lincoln office," Harlak said. Everyone signed attestation clauses out of the notary's presence, he added.
Harlak went through 15 minutes of training before he went to several Nebraska counties, including Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, Otoe and Washington, to gather signatures.
In training, he was told to tailor the initiative message based on what the signer looked like, he said.
"To the rednecks at the bar I would say, 'Minorities are taking your jobs away from you,'" he said.
Harlak told minorities the petition was to stop preferential hiring in job and school settings.
Harlak secured an estimated 5,000 signatures in favor of the petition, but he said he feels bad about it because he misled voters.
He said he stated the object statement, which explains the petition, to less than 100 people that signed the petition.
Once he heard about Nebraskans United challenging the validity of the signatures gathered, he called the group.
"It was eating me up that what I was doing was wrong," he said.
Spray asked Harlak what exactly he did wrong.
"I led people to believe that this is a petition to stop preferential hiring when it actually hurts affirmative action groups," Harlak said.
Harlak said he didn't know the meaning of the petition.
"I still don't know what some of those fancy words mean," he said.
National Ballot Access offered circulators $1 for each valid signature obtained. The group also offered $50 gas cards as bonus gifts. When it came close to the petition signature validation deadline, Harlak said National Ballot Access offered $1.50 per signature.
Harlak said he never received the gas card he was promised and wasn't reimbursed for gas after traveling to Sydney, Neb.
The trial will continue tomorrow in Lancaster County District Court. Judge Karen Flowers expects to close the case by Thursday.
alissaskelton@dailynebraskan.com
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