Tax petition may be short on signatures as fight continues

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The petition to repeal the $833.5 million tax increase may be short of the required referendum signatures, even if it wins in a case before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Vickie Oldenburg told a District Court hearing that the Axe the Tax referendum was 4,548 signatures short of the required 51,337 to get the issue on the ballot.

Supporters of the referendum contend that the county clerks did not count signatures of people who signed voter registration forms when they signed the petition. And they say that will give them more than 51,337.

But Oldenburg told District Judge Bill Maddox that a preliminary count shows the referendum would still be deficient. She said that Clark County disqualified 2,745 and Washoe may have not counted 1,061.

She said a tabulation is being made of the rest of the counties to determine the full number of signatures of people who signed up to vote and signed the petition at the same time. The voter registration forms in some cases were filed with the counties after the petition.

Maddox, after hearing oral arguments, withheld a ruling the lawsuit by the Nevada Taxpayers Association. The lawsuit argues that the petition is deficient because it does not meet the constitutional requirement that the full 150-page text of the referendum was not included on the petition.

He said he will wait to see the secretary of state's count. "I may not have to rule on this," he said.

But Joel Hansen, attorney for Axe the Tax, said an appeal of the count is being prepared to file with the secretary of state on the way the ballots were counted.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court is being asked to decide whether those voter registrations filed after the petition should be counted toward qualification. This case involves the marijuana petition. But the same issue applies on the tax referendum.