Recount of anti-tax petition ordered

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- At first count, the petition to repeal the $833.5 million tax package didn't have enough signatures to qualify for the election ballot, but Secretary of State Dean Heller has ordered a recount.

Faced with threat of a lawsuit, Heller late Tuesday ordered the full count of the referendum petition to determine if enough registered voters signed to put the issue on the November election ballot.

George Harris, head of Nevadans for Sound Government, which circulated the petition, praised Heller and predicted that a full count would qualify the tax referendum for the ballot.

Heller's office first announced the referendum gained only 49,207 valid signatures, short of the required 51,337 statewide. In major counties, such as Clark and Washoe, the registrar of voters only had to do statistical sampling of five percent of the signatures to determine how many of those that signed were actually registered voters.

When Heller first announced the petition had failed, Harris said a lawsuit would be filed. For instance, Harris said 46,667 signatures were turned in to Clark County, but the statistical sampling showed only 34,876 were registered voters.

Harris suggested there could be tampering with the petitions and said he would ask for a full count.

After that, Heller agreed to order the counties to do a full count within the next 12 days.

"Although the original total did not meet the 100 percent requirement, it does surpass that 90 percent (number)," Heller said. "With the threat of further legal action hanging over the outcome of this petition, coupled with the fact that the clerks and registrars are already on a very tight deadline, as secretary of state, I cannot in good conscience risk further delay through the advent of court proceeding."

If a petition has 90 percent of the signatures needed, a recount can be ordered.

There are already court cases on three petitions -- marijuana, minimum wage and frivolous lawsuits. Counties say they must have an answer by Sept. 1 if these issues are to be on the absentee and sample ballots.

Harris said his group turned in 68,000 signatures on the Axe The Tax petitions and 65,000 signatures on an initiative to prohibit government workers from serving in the Legislature.

The secretary of state's office declared the government workers petition inadequate because it received only 47,328 valid signatures and did not gain the necessary 10 percent of voter signatures in 13 of the 17 counties. It only qualified in 11 counties.

Heller did not order a recount of the government workers petition. But Harris said he expected Heller to reverse himself on this petition also.

Harris said he expected to pick up at least 6,500 additional signatures in the recount in Clark County alone on the tax petition.

This is just another development in a topsy-turvy election season where already three initiative petitions are under court challenge. The federal court in Las Vegas is slated Friday to hear arguments on whether the initiative petition to allow adults to have one ounce of marijuana should be on the ballot.

The Nevada Supreme Court has agreed to consider the suit about whether the petitions to raise the minimum wage and to prohibit frivolous lawsuits should go to the voters in November.

Harris said that the circulators of the petitions asked persons before they signed it if they were registered voters. He said he could not conceive how 68,000 signatures were reduced to 49,207.

Harris said he will bring in election experts to watch the re-count. In some of the rural counties where there were less than 500 persons signing the petition, the county clerk verified every signature and no recount will be conducted, the secretary of state's office said.

But in Clark and Washoe, there was statistical sampling of 5 percent of the voters. And the registrars will have to look at other 95 percent to see who is and who is not a registered voter.

Harris said the election is costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars. When Nevadans for Sound Government didn't have the required signatures by the first deadline, the group filed suit claiming it was harassed from gathering names when they appeared at government building.

District Judge Kenneth Cory gave the group an extra 35 days to complete its work.

Carole Vilardo, executive director of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said she was pleased when she was first informed that the tax petition had failed. Her group was poised to file suit against the petition, claiming it was legally defective because it failed to list all the language of the law. Instead it contained only the numerical sections of the law to be repealed.

She said that if the tax repeal proponents go to court, her organization may seek to intervene in any suit to keep the petition off the ballot.

Harris said, "They are messing with the wrong hombre," talking about opponents he identified as gaming, Gov. Kenny Guinn, government bureaucrats and rich people. He hinted that valid signatures were tossed out in some counties because of opposition of local officials. He said he will personally sue if fraud is discovered.

He said he believes the counts were accurate in Churchill, Elko and Esmeralda counties.

The petition to stop government workers from serving in the Legislature fell short of the 10 percent requirement in Carson City, Douglas, Humboldt, Lyon, Nye and Washoe counties.

The secretary of state's office said 1,751 valid signatures were needed in Carson City and the petition had only 650; 1,706 names were required in Douglas County and only 859 signatures were of valid voters; 437 signatures were required in Humboldt County but the petitions had only 408; Lyon County required 1,111 but only 716 voters signed; Nye County required 1,091 but the number was 50 short of the required 10 percent and Washoe County required 10,695 but it got only 4,818.

Harris said District Judge Bill Maddox of Carson City allowed the initiatives on raising the minimum wage and frivolous lawsuits on the ballot without verifications. He said the tax and government employees measures should likewise be permitted on the ballot. The Maddox decision is on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.