PENNSYLVANIA
Court Strikes Nader From Pennsylvania Ballot
By KATE ZERNIKE - NYT
Pennsylvania court struck Ralph Nader's name from the state's ballot yesterday, declaring that nearly two-thirds of the signatures on his nominating petitions were invalid or had been forged in what the court called an unparalleled case of election fraud.
The decision, if upheld, could significantly change the equation in Pennsylvania, a swing state with 21 electoral votes. Polls show President Bush and Senator John Kerry in a dead heat, with Mr. Nader attracting about 3 percent of the electorate there. Republicans were helping him in the hopes that he would take votes from Mr. Kerry, the Democratic nominee. Democrats had led the challenge to the Nader signatures.
"I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court," wrote James G. Colins, the president judge of the Commonwealth Court, who noted that he had served longer, and reviewed more nominating papers, than any judge in the court's history.
The Nader campaign said it would appeal the decision to the state's Supreme Court.
Judge Colins said the conduct of the Nader campaign "shocks the conscience of the court."
He said, "In reviewing signatures, it became apparent that in addition to signing names such as Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone, John Kerry and the ubiquitous Ralph Nader, there were thousands of names that were created at random and then randomly assigned either existent or nonexistent addresses by the circulators."
Mr. Nader's access to the ballot has been a hard-fought battle in state after state. He is on the ballot in more than 30 states and the issue is in court in about 10.
In Pennsylvania, the court, which had reviewed every signature in marathon hearings across the state over three weeks, ruled that 32,455 signatures out of 51,273 submitted by the Nader forces were invalid. Mr. Nader needed 25,697 valid signatures to get on the ballot, and in the end, had only 18,818.
The court said many of the fraudulent signatures had been the work of "serial signers"- people who had signed the petitions multiple times - including what the court called "by far our champion serial signers," a father and son who signed 67 times between them.
The opinion also cited testimony from the head of the Nader campaign in Pennsylvania, Dan Martino, who said the campaign knew that some homeless people it had hired to collect signatures were signing fraudulent names to petitions, and submitted them anyway.
Pennsylvania's ballot woes are not over. Besides the Nader vow to appeal, the federal Department of Justice has sued the state, saying it had not sent out absentee ballots in time for them to be returned before Election Day, Nov. 2.
Several counties had been waiting for the outcome of the Nader case to print and send out their absentee ballots. Others that had sent out ballots including Mr. Nader's name said they would have to send out a new round. The Nader campaign accused the court of being inclined against Mr. Nader and his running mate, Peter Camejo, from the beginning.
"This court essentially said, 'I don't care what the voter intent was, I don't want them on the ballot,' " said Kevin Zeese, a spokesman for the campaign in Washington.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |
