Marijuana petition advocates: Count monitoring impeded

Stephen Curran

Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

The validity of a petition that would put a measure to legalize possession small amounts of marijuana on the November ballot may hinge on where members of the advocacy group pushing the initiative were allowed to stand while signatures were being verified.

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, on the heels of a federal judge's order that all signatures on the petition must be verified, on Friday complained that the Clark County Elections Department unfairly limited their movement and access to rooms at the Clark County Government Center, where employees were double-checking the signatures.

With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, the group later gained access to the rooms but were limited as to how close they could stand to the employees' computer terminals.

In one room, Jennifer Knight, a spokeswoman for the marijuana advocacy group, said monitors from the committee could only make out the information on the screen with binoculars.

"Even if you have 20/20 vision you wouldn't be able to see those computers," Knight said, standing at the back of the room.

Of particular interest to the group were signatures marked possibly invalid or questionable, Knight said, enough to where those signers may hold the future of the measure if their signatures can be proved valid.

Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters, said the room -- normally used for computer training -- is set up in a way that would make it difficult for monitors to pace the narrow rows.

Election employees expected to have the first stage of the validation process -- setting aside petitions with questionable signatures -- completed later today, Lomax said this morning. That part was supposed to be finished Friday, but was delayed by the complaints, he said.

The second part requires election officials to research the signatures to try to validate them.

Committee officials had previously requested elections officials move computers so that the computer screens would be easier for monitors to see, a move Lomax said would delay the process further.

"It can't happen the way the room is configured," Lomax said Friday. "We'd lose a whole day of processing (signatures)."

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Southern Nevada, said elections officials told him they would have to obtain a permit to move the furniture, and that there would not be enough time.

"The explanation that you need a permit to turn around a computer is pretty lame," Peck said.

Friday's complaints were part of a larger problem stemming from a lack of consistent guidelines for monitors wanting to observe the verification process, Peck said.

Lomax said the restrictions were placed only to reduce the amount of time it took employees to verify the signatures.

"We are complying with letting them see what's going on," he said. "There's not an attempt to hide anything but we have work to do. We'd never get a petition processed if we had to argue with every petitioner like this."