Yesterday, a US District Court in Nevada ruled that once a petition drive has begun (in this case, for initiatives), the state cannot change the numerical requirement during the lifetime of that petition, even if a new election is held so that the new legal number of signatures is higher than the prior one.

Plaintiffs were backers of several initiatives that had been circulating during 2004. The proponents were legally permitted to finish the drive as late as December 2004, to qualify for the November 2006 ballot. Unfortunately, when they submitted the signatures in December 2004, the state said, “Sorry; the number of signatures depends on the last vote cast, and the number of votes cast in November 2004 (which is much higher than the 2002 number) now applies. The decision means that an initiative to legalize marijuana, and two initiatives dealing with tobacco, will now appear on the November 2006 ballot, unless of course the state appeals and gets the decision reversed.

State Senator Marilyn Jarrett has introduced SB 1218, which makes many miscellaneous election law changes. Among the change is a provision that if someone tries to get on the ballot as an independent candidate, and fails, then that person may not file to have his or her write-in votes counted.

The bill seems aimed at Nader voters. Nader tried and failed to qualify as an independent in Arizona. He then filed for write-in status, and elections officials tallied 2,773 write-ins for him. Under Jarrett’s bill, these voters would not have had their write-ins tallied. Anyone who wishes to try to persuade Senator Jarrett to drop this provision, can reach her at mjarrett@azleg.state.az.us. Her capitol office phone is 602-928-5288. She is a Republican and a member of the Heartland Institute.