Nader gains spot on W.Va. ballot

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http://wvgazette.com/section/APNews/News/ap0057r

Nader gains spot on W.Va. ballot

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name will appear on West Virginia's general election ballot in November, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday.

An incomplete review of Nader's petitions shows his campaign gathered 15,302 valid signatures, exceeding the 12,962 he needed, said Cindy Smith, team leader of the secretary of state's election division.

Nader's campaign submitted petitions bearing 23,000 signatures last month.

Libertarian presidential candidate Ed Clark also will appear on the ballot, Smith said. That review showed Clark had 13,712 valid signatures.

The announcement of Nader's place on the ballot came a day after a Charleston lawyer sued Secretary of State Joe Manchin, alleging he failed to investigate how Nader's campaign obtained the signatures, or failed to refer the matter to Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office for an investigation.

The filing won't interfere with plans to certify the Nov. 2 ballot by Aug. 24, Smith said.

"We will proceed as we normally would until a judge tells us otherwise,'' she said.

Charleston lawyer Jason Huber filed his petition in the state Supreme Court on behalf of five people seeking to force Manchin to make the Nader signatures public. The Supreme Court is in summer recess and has yet to act on the petition.

In his filing, Huber argued that Manchin violated the state's Freedom of Information Act when he refused to release the Nader petitions and related documents, including at least 12 complaints from residents to Manchin's office.

Manchin's office had refused to release the documents.

Huber also had asked Kanawha County Clerk Alma King to release petitions signed in the county. King refused and last week McGraw's office upheld her decision, saying the petitions are confidential because each signature is akin to that person's vote.

Without public disclosure, the public can't serve as "guardians of democracy in the context of one of its most important events, a presidential election,'' Huber argued in his filing.

"In addition, there is ample anecdotal evidence, both in West Virginia and nationally, to indicate that the manner in which some signatures are gathered is unlawful and that in many cases the actual signatures are not valid,'' Huber wrote.

Nader's campaign has faced challenges in several states over how it has collected signatures. As of last week, Nader had qualified for the presidential ballot in fewer than a dozen states.

Names must be dropped from nominating petitions in West Virginia if petition workers misrepresented themselves to signers, or if signatures are forged.

Nader's campaign had hired JSM Inc. of Florida to gather signatures. Company President Jenny Breslin has attributed problems to a misunderstanding of local rules.

To verify the signatures were from registered voters, Manchin's office sent the petitions to county clerks for review. All but a few had been returned to the office by Tuesday, Smith said.

West Virginia is considered a battleground state this year and Nader is seen as a potential spoiler in the campaign.

Nader was on the West Virginia ballot in the 2000 election as the Green Party candidate. He received 10,680 votes, or 1.65 percent. President Bush won West Virginia with 336,475 votes, or 51.9 percent.