Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.
Ralph Nader's campaign hoped Nevada would be the first state where he would easily coast to a spot on the November ballot.
But the Nevada Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a District Court judge to yank Nader from the ballot -- just hours before the deadline to challenge signatures gathered on Nader's behalf.
The suit calls the petitions "tainted with misrepresentation, falsity, forgery, misconduct and deceit."
Some signatures were forged and other voters were mislead about the purpose of the petitions, the suit charges. It also charges that circulators misrepresented themselves and their addresses when signing affidavits.
Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said that Democrats are "just grasping at straws" and should allow the democratic process to proceed.
"They set out to challenge it on any grounds they could," he said. "And that's the best they can find. It just shows they're desperate to keep Nader off the ballot."
But Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers said the party felt compelled to do something about the widespread fraud that he said is contained in the petitions.
"It's not democratic to cheat to get somebody on the ballot," he said.
Of the 11,888 signatures submitted by the Nader campaign, the Democratic party is challenging 11,571 signatures, Summers said.
"We've got a good chance," he said. "This isn't just a Nevada issue, this is something we're seeing all over the country."
Efforts to put Nader on the ballot have been hampered by politics around the country.
Some Republicans have helped Nader win access to the ballot, including Nevada political consultant Steve Wark, who said he helped raise about $30,000 to fund the Nader signature drive.
Democratic parties have filed several lawsuits challenging Nader petitions, saying that Republicans are supporting the petitions in an effort to draw votes away from Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
In Nevada, as well as several other states, the signatures were collected by JSM Inc., a signature-gathering company based in Florida.
JSM also coordinated campaigns in New Mexico and in Arizona, where Democrats successfully challenged Nader signatures.
Another JSM drive for Nader signatures in West Virginia drew questions after the Associated Press reported signature gatherers told voters they were collecting signatures for "a minority" candidate.
"Nader knows this is going on, he knows JSM is a Republican company, and he knows this effort is being funded by Republicans who, frankly, want to steal votes," Summers said.
Zeese called the company "totally reliable."
"They're good," he said. "They've been doing this for years and they're pros."
The Nevada Democratic Party has about 60 affidavits from people who said their signatures was somehow falsely obtained, Summers said.
Voters in several affidavits said they were told their signatures would register them to vote, not help Nader. Several other names appeared multiple times on the petitions in different handwriting, the lawsuit says.
Nevada law also requires people who circulate petitions to sign an affidavit stating their residential address. At least 16 circulators who obtained 5,843 signatures listed a hotel or a commercial address that could not be their "residence," the suit says.
Nevada is in the midst of a tight presidential election, and Nader has shown a relatively substantial base of support in some statewide polls.
A poll by Zogby International released Tuesday found Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry ahead of President Bush, 48 to 46 percent, with Nader receiving 6 percent.
The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Nader has consistently done well in Zogby's polls of Nevada, even reaching 12 percent on a June 20 poll. Still, a Reno Gazette-Journal and KRNV News 4 poll released Sunday found Nader had just 2 percent of the vote.
The District Court judge has five days to hear the challenge to Nader's signatures. Steve George, a spokesman for Secretary of State Dean Heller, said he does not expect the suit will put a strain on county registrars preparing for the election. State law requires judges to speed up litigation involving upcoming elections.
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