North Dakota University's eight football players have been charged in relation to faking petition signatures tied to November election ballot.

The players were reportedly hired on an hourly basis to collect signatures for two citizen initiatives-to set up a state conservation fund and to make marijuana legal for medical treatments- which will be kept off the ballot, reports AP.

According to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, many of the signatures were fabricated or copied from the phonebook.

North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger said to AP, he was told that petition circulators had to get at least 50 signatures each day and those that collected a minimum of 80 names would receive bonuses. They were reportedly paid nine dollars per hour.

Supporters of the initiatives reportedly paid a consulting firm $145,000 to collect the petition signatures they needed to qualify for the ballot and have already invested $500,000 for television ad campaigns. But, now as due to the disqualification of both the initiatives, there are not enough signatures to qualify for voting.

Among the fraudulent names, there was one Hillary Rodham, who is better known as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, listed as living at White House. There were many such indications of faking when workers went through the signatures, like wrong zip codes, names 'signed' in the same hand and so on.

The players are among the 11 people charged with facilitation of voter fraud or filing a false statement, which are Class A misdemeanors. The charges brought down by Jaeger and Stenehjem will carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine, Stenehjem told AP.

The charged players include, starting running back Samuel Ojuri, defensive backs Marcus Williams and Brendin Pierre, and offensive lineman Josh Colville. Backup defensive backs Bryan Shepherd and Aireal Boyd, reserve middle linebacker Antonio Rodgers and Demitrius Gray, a freshman wide receiver are also among the charged.

In the Tuesday's press conference, NDSU head coach Craig Bohl said all eight players are still members of the team and will be eligible to play this weekend against Colorado State. Any possible team discipline proposals will be taken up once the criminal charges are resolved.