Eight North Dakota state football players, who held $9 an hour jobs obtaining signatures for ballot initiatives, have been charged with faking the signatures. This resulted in initiatives for conservation and for legalizing medical marijuana being removed from the November ballot.

Organizers for the former effort had already spent more than $600,000 on consulting and advertising for the proposal. The players could face up to a year in prison.

Some of the deception attempts were not so subtle.

Jaeger said workers checking the petitions noticed repeated Zip code mistakes, names “signed” in the same hand and other indications the signatures were faked. In one instance, a person signed the name of Hillary Rodham, who is better known as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and listed her as living at the White House, he said.

North Dakota State is the reigning FCS National Champion and upset Minnesota 37-24 in 2011. The players include the team’s starting running back, a starting offensive lineman and two starting defensive backs. They will be eligible to play while the case plays out.

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