cannabisnews.com: Federal Judge Throws Lifeline To Pot Initiative Federal Judge Throws Lifeline To Pot Initiative Posted by CN Staff on August 13, 2004 at 19:20:37 PT By Jace Radke, Las Vegas Sun Source: Las Vegas Sun Las Vegas -- A federal judge found Nevada's process for putting initiative petitions on the ballot unconstitutional Friday, giving a petition that would allow adults to have an ounce of marijuana a chance to be on the November ballot.U.S. District Judge James Mahan found unconstitutional the "13-county" rule that requires circulators to obtain signatures of 10 percent of the people who voted in the last election in 13 of the state's 17 counties, as well as the requirement that calls for a second person to sign off on the signatures circulators collect. Mahan issued a permanent injunction that enjoins Secretary of State Dean Heller from nullifying votes based on those rules.The ruling means that the counties will have to now go back and recount the signatures and see if there are enough to get the petition on the ballot based on the new guidelines. Counties are already recounting the signatures on the "Axe the tax" petition, which would roll back an $836 million tax increase last year. Mahan's dismissal of the 13-county rule means that a third petition involving public employees will also need to be recounted.Mahan refused to order Heller to place the marijuana initiative on the ballot, saying that the number of signatures would determine if it would qualify. Mahan also denied a claim in the lawsuit, filed by the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, that called into question whether someone who signs a petition can register to vote after signing.That question will be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Matthew Brinkerhoff, an attorney representing the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana."I think there is a decent likelihood that we'll be able to find the signatures that we need," Brinkerhoff said.Heller, the state's chief election officer, said he was disappointed with the federal court ruling on the petition. He said it would mean that all the petitions that failed _ minimum wage, frivolous lawsuits, marijuana, public employees in the Legislature _ will have to have 100 percent of their signatures verified.Heller said this latest ruling is "bringing us to our knees" in preparing for the election. "We're not killed yet but it took us out."He said he understood the ruling regarding the one-person one-vote concept and he was surprised it was not challenged earlier. But he said the practical effect is that a petition could be circulated only in Clark County to send 100 percent of the state's revenue to Clark County and the rest of the state would not have any say.He said he would have to meet with Attorney General Brian Sandoval to determine whether to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The county clerks and registrar of voters must have answered by Sept. 2 on whether these questions are on the ballot in order to have time to print the absentee and sample ballots for the general election in November.Complete Title: Federal Judge Throws Lifeline To Nevada Pot InitiativeSource: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author: Jace Radke, Las Vegas Sun Published: August 13, 2004Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Sun Inc.Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Judge Keeps Legalized Pot Issue Alivehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19331.shtmlAG Wants Suit on Marijuana Initiative Dismissedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19312.shtmlLegal Pot Petition Sees Ray of Hope http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19266.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 17, 2004 at 10:53:22 PT Initiative Update: The Las Vegas Review Journal INITIATIVE PETITIONS: Workers Start Racing TimeGoal: Check 120,000 signatures by month's endTuesday, August 17, 2004 Temporary employees and Clark County staff members recruited to verify signatures manually on initiative petitions embarked on a daunting task Monday: checking upwards of 120,000 signatures in 12 business days. The process was triggered by U.S. District Judge James Mahan's Friday ruling that struck down two laws governing the initiative process in Nevada. Mahan deemed unconstitutional the "13 counties rule," which requires an initiative to include signatures from at least 10 percent of the number of voters who voted in the most recent general election in at least 13 of the state's 17 counties. To succeed, petitioners needed 51,337 signatures. Mahan's decision means that instead of meeting the "13 counties" formula, petitioners could have all of their signatures come from one large county, such as Clark. Election officials must count and check every signature on three petitions to determine whether the initiatives qualify for the November ballot under the new guidelines. "We'll get it done, but good God," said Larry Lomax, Clark County's registrar of voters. "We'll have to throw an awful lot of people and an awful lot of hours to get this done." Mahan's ruling came after a lawsuit and motion for injunction filed July 27 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, the Marijuana Policy Project and several individual petition circulators and registered Nevada voters. Lomax said lawsuits are becoming so common with failed petitions, he might lobby the state to move up filing deadlines for signature gatherers to give his office more time to accommodate problems. On Monday, a taxpayers group filed a lawsuit to try to stop the signature verification process for an initiative petition that seeks to repeal the 2003 legislative tax increase. "We've gotten to the point that every petition that fails goes to court," Lomax said. "If all this litigation is going to take place, we need more time." The outcome of the verification process could affect three initiatives: the marijuana petition, a petition that seeks to ban public workers from serving in the Nevada Legislature, and the tax repeal initiative, known as Ax the Tax. Lomax figured if two full-time employees worked for a year to verify signatures on all three petitions, they would not complete the task. He is counting on temporary help and has recruited county employees to help. Workers Monday typed in names or addresses, whichever was more legible, into the county's database. Once they identified the voter, they matched the signature on the petition to the one in the system. In the conference room where the marijuana initiative petitions were checked, members of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana lined the back wall and videotaped the proceedings. Lomax said he rejected their request to have a member sit next to each worker throughout the verification process. Lomax said he expected each worker to get through 30 signatures an hour, then speed up as they become familiar with the process. "The hardest part is trying to figure out scribbley or lousy writing," he said. County clerks across the state said Monday they are doing all they can to count signatures, but some officials expressed concern the election could be at risk. Douglas County Clerk Barbara Reed said the counting of the signatures will be done in time but questioned whether the absentee ballots will be printed and ready to mail by a Sept. 23 deadline. The county expects about 3,000 requests for absentee ballots, and not getting them to military personnel and others in time could disenfranchise them, she said. "We could be setting the state as a whole up for possible litigation after the general election if we don't make these deadlines," Reed said. Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burk also had concerns about the effect of the counts on the election process. "To be honest, we're playing with fire now about whether we can get this done," he said. Burk said his staff is working 12-hour shifts six days a week to get ready for the primary and for all other election related issues. "It is making it extremely difficult for us to do what the voters want, which is to ensure election security and to make sure their votes are counted properly," said Burk, who has hired extra staff. About 12,000 signatures need to be checked in Washoe for the tax repeal and public employee measures. But the task of counting nearly 17,000 signatures on the marijuana legalization initiative might not get done in time, he said. "It's a mess," he said. In Clark County, the burden from Friday's ruling was exacerbated by Monday's announcement that groups that registered voters did not turn their paperwork in on time. Lomax said he expected a stream of residents to come into elections offices to register before this evening's deadline. On top of that, a storm that blew Sunday through the Las Vegas Valley damaged an early voting poll site off Centennial Parkway. Last month, the election division's server was overloaded and crashed when extra staff was brought in to register voters. Some election administrators have not had a day off since July 18. "This is unquestionably the worst (election season)," Lomax said. "Everything that can happen to us has happened to us. If you sense frustration on my part, you're right."Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Review-Journalhttp://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Aug-17-Tue-2004/news/24554506.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 14, 2004 at 08:45:22 PT Just a Comment I hope everyone is doing ok. I just found out my two nephews made it thru the storm. My one nephew had to evacuate and the shelter was hit but no one was hurt thank goodness. I haven't found any news to post so far but I will keep looking. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 13, 2004 at 19:33:50 PT Slightly Different Article from The Las Vegas Sun http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/aug/13/517336792.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment