Nader sues to get on Texas ballot

By The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press

STEVE HELBER / AP Ralph Nader is lacking the signatures to secure a place on the Texas presidential ballot.

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"Democracy is under assault in Texas," Nader said. "Through unconstitutional laws and denial of access to public places, Texas voters are being denied more voices and more choices."

Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor said his office would vigorously defend the law.

"While Nader's campaign suggests that the state's deadline and required number of signatures is unconstitutional, there have been a number of successful efforts to gain ballot access in Texas as an independent presidential candidate, including Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 and Pat Buchanan in 2000," he said.

Nader volunteers continued to gather signatures yesterday, but it was clear that Nader would fall far short of the requirement to have 64,076 signatures by 5 p.m. That total represents 1 percent of all votes cast for president in the 2000 election.

Voters who had participated in the March 9 primary were not eligible to sign the petitions.

Nader contends that the different standards for independent candidates and third-party candidates, who must turn in 45,540 signatures by May 24 to get on the Texas ballot, are unfair.

His campaign said it would not turn in its 50,000 voter signatures and would instead continue to circulate petitions. Kevin Zeese, a spokesman for Nader, said they would have enough signatures by May 24.

"We're on the same pace we were on in 2000," when Nader was a Green Party candidate, Zeese said.

Getting on the Texas ballot was the first major test for the Nader campaign. Although President Bush is almost certain to win Texas — his home state — in November, political analysts said Nader needed to win ballot access to gain credibility for his campaign.

The effort was not easy. The campaign complained last week that its volunteers have been banned from some street festivals, libraries and public-university campuses in Texas, making it difficult to gather signatures.
 
Nader has yet to qualify for any state ballot.

Nader, a longtime consumer activist, ran for president in 2000 as the Green Party candidate and won 2.7 percent of the vote nationally. Some Democrats blamed him for pulling votes away from Democrat Al Gore, causing him to lose to Bush.

Nader appeared on the ballot in 43 states and the District of Columbia in 2000 after filing eight lawsuits to challenge ballot access rules.

Connor said Texas' ballot access standard had already been tested in court.

"Repeat litigation is regrettable, but we will certainly defend state election law," he said.