Florida justices halt ballot mailing until Nader ruling

By John Kennedy
The Orlando Sentinel

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After days of legal wrangling, which caused Nader's name to ping-pong on and off Florida's presidential ballot, justices called a halt to further action until a hearing tomorrow.

"They're basically just saying stop everything for now. This has gotten too confusing. Wait until we rule," said Mark Herron, a lawyer for the Florida Democratic Party, which is seeking to have Nader stripped from the ballot.

The high court's ruling was in response to an appeal from Hood, Florida's secretary of state, who earlier yesterday was dealt a strong rebuke by Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Davey. During a hearing, Davey ordered Hood to rescind the go-ahead she had given the state's 67 election supervisors to prepare absentee ballots with Nader's name on them for mailing by Saturday.

Hood's move seemed to defy not only Davey's earlier injunction, but also to flout the Supreme Court as ultimate arbiter in the case.

Hood, a former Orlando, Fla., mayor, has said she was only trying to perform "ministerial" duties as the state's top elections officer, and help supervisors meet a deadline. By law, ballots must be sent by Saturday to about 25,000 overseas voters and military personnel who have requested them.

"Everything we've done is for the voters of Florida, and it's the supervisors of election who are under the gun," Hood said. "We have been trying to avoid the confusion that has now occurred."

Davey, a registered Democrat, last week sided with Florida Democrats and a group of four voters demanding that Nader be taken off the ballot, contending that the Reform Party did not qualify as a national party under state law and that its nominating convention was held solely to get Nader on the Florida ballot without the 93,000 petition signatures he otherwise would have needed.

Democrats fear Nader could prove a spoiler in Florida's presidential contest.

Bush won the White House in 2000 after carrying Florida by 537 votes. Nader that year snagged 97,421 votes, most of which officials from both major parties say would have gone to Democrat Al Gore if Nader had not been in the race.

Fearing a repeat, Democrats have sought to have Nader knocked off the ballot in most of the roughly 20 battleground states where the contest between Bush and Kerry is tightest. In almost every one of those states, Republicans have pushed back by offering legal assistance and petition-gathering help to Nader.
 
Meanwhile, a raft of former Naderites — all celebrities, intellectuals, writers and activists — have signed a petition urging voters living in swing states who might be tempted to vote for Nader to support Kerry instead.

"For people seeking progressive social change in the United States, removing George W. Bush from office should be the top priority in the 2004 presidential election," the petition said.

The more than 70 signatories include actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon; former talk-show host Phil Donahue; academics Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Cornel West; musicians Bonnie Raitt and Eddie Vedder; and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich.

Information on the petition was provided by The Washington Post.