NEWS
Nader files to win spot on state ballot
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by Ryan Masse
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Ralph Nader moved one step closer to securing a spot on Wisconsin’s ballot this November by handing in the requisite number of signatures to the State Elections Board Tuesday.
The Nader campaign submitted approximately 4,000 signatures at 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, just three hours before the 5 p.m. filing deadline for independent candidates seeking a spot on the general election ballot. In Wisconsin an independent candidate must submit at least 2,000 signatures — and no more than 4,000 — to appear on the ballot.
Over the next 24 hours, the State Elections Board will review the signatures and rule on whether Nader has achieved a sufficient number to gain ballot access. Should a group wish to challenge any signatures, they must do so before 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, according to Elections Board executive director Kevin Kennedy.
If such a challenge is to be filed, it may come from the Democratic Party, which has challenged the filings of the Nader campaign in other states, most recently Virginia.
Many Democrats blamed Nader for taking away votes that otherwise would have gone to Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, and with another close race anticipated this year, Democrats hope to avoid a recurrence of the last election.
Nader’s Wisconsin field coordinator, Bill Lizelle, accused Democrats of “spending millions of dollars on lawyers nationally” in an effort to keep Nader off of ballots.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin communications director Seth Boffeli said Tuesday the signatures would be reviewed.
“We are going to take a look at the signatures handed in, to make sure they are valid, and that petitioners collected signatures from people with the intention of supporting Nader’s candidacy,” Boffeli said.
With lingering animosity among many Democrats towards Nader’s decision to run again, Linzille said the effort to collect the 2,000 signatures, a relatively low number compared with other states, did not come easily. Linzille said some petitioners were subjected to verbal abuse, and others encountered people who thought the petitions were to remove Nader from the ballot.
Boffeli accused the Nader campaign of actively seeking the signatures of Republicans, and alleged that Nader’s courtship of the Republican vote will cause progressives to view Nader as a “sellout.”
“Four years ago, he stood up and made a principled stand against big money, special interests and corporations, but this year he’s taking money from those people,” Bofelli said.
Linzille, however, said the Wisconsin ballot effort was conducted by volunteers who only obtained signatures from Nader supporters.
“There’s no way to know for sure [that the signatures aren’t of Republicans], but the vast majority were progressives,” Linzille said. “If we wanted to collect Republican signatures, we would have gone to central Wisconsin, but we went to Madison and very progressive areas in Milwaukee.”
Linzelle said Nader has not lost any credibility with progressives because he continues to support causes such as universal health care and pulling out of Iraq, which the major party candidates “won’t touch with a 10 foot pole.”
UW political science professor Don Ferree said Democrats should be careful not to take their legal challenges concerning Nader’s ballot status too far.
“If people perceive the Democrats’ moves as being unfair and not giving people a chance to voice their support for Nader, that could backfire,” Ferree said.
