Posted on 10/13/2004 4:34:07 PM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
Court bans Nader from Pa. ballot Wednesday, October 13, 2004
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- Commonwealth Court today issued its long-awaited decision on the independent presidential candidacy of Ralph Nader, ordering the consumer advocate off the ballot in Pennsylvania.
The court said it had reviewed 51,273 petition signatures submitted by Nader campaign workers and found only 18,818 were valid -- far short of the 25,697 valid names he needed to run for president in Pennsylvania.
Commonwealth Court ruled in favor of eight objectors, most of whom were from the Pittsburgh area, who had gone to court after criticizing the validity of thousands of petition signatures that Nader had turned in to the state in August in an effort to get a spot on the ballot.
Democratic Party officials were also upset by the Nader petitions, claiming that many signatures appeared spurious.
In his lengthy opinion, President Judge James Gardner Colins said he has served longer on Commonwealth Court than any judge in the court's history and has reviewed more nominating petitions than any other judge in the court's history. That set up the following statement from the judge:
"I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court." He said the conduct of the candidates, Nader and running mate Peter Camejo, "shocks the conscience of the court."
Colins noted hat the names on the petitions included Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone and John Kerry.
Democrats were cheered by the decision because they feared Nader would siphon votes from people unhappy with President Bush -- votes that likely will go to Democratic challenger John Kerry if Nader isn't on the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania, with 21 electoral votes, is considered an important swing state in the presidential election, where Republican Bush and Democrat Kerry are running a close race.
The Commonwealth Court's decision, however, leads to an important question -- what happens in several counties throughout the state, including large ones such as Allegheny, Philadelphia and Montgomery, where absentee ballots have already been mailed out with Nader's name on them? Will a second ballot, one without Nader's name, have to be sent out to those voters?
Allegheny County sent out between 25,000 and 30,000 absentee ballots last week, said county Elections Division Manager Mark Wolosik, who was checking with county lawyers today on how to proceed.
The ballots were sent out last week, he said, because "there was a possibility that the voters wouldn't receive their ballot and have a chance to complete it and return it by the deadline'' of 5 p.m. Oct. 29.
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More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Thanks for the reply back. I should have used a better term than 'dirty town', considering all the manufacturing, as you mentioned, was done there. It was a true blue-collar town and I fondly remember it. I remember during the 60's, Chester High was always the eastern state representative playing for the state's high school basketball championship. The reason why no Philly high school team wasn't in the final game was because they were not academically eligible.
Why be so negative about Bush's prospects? Better to say nothing than to regurgitate negativity.
My understanding is that the Nader's campaign was paying $1 per line to the "volunteers" gathering the petitions. Lots of them opened a telephone book and faked signatures. Probably democrats at heart.
>> Why aren't states just as scrutinizing, when dealing with registration and voting, eh?
I'd bet you anything that these same cesspool-run states
that would stoop this low, already DO scrutinize registrations
(if they are registered R ) and voting (in R districts)
Why has the Nader campaign been so lame at this issue? It's lost a lot of state ballot slots. If I were Nader, I'd be livid.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
Election 2004 threads on FR
Heaven forbid we allow people to make personal observations on the news that aren't quite the campaign-sactioned observations.
to bad....buy that man a corvair.....
"Why be so negative about Bush's prospects? Better to say nothing than to regurgitate negativity."
Life is not always roses and sunshine. Resources, both human and millions of dollars, are at stake. If W. can't win PA, those resources should be sunk into a state where he might win and the best return on the investment is possible. If W. has no shot here, time to pull out. November 3rd will be too late. The Dems will go to great lengths to make sure W. does not win PA. Massive voter fraud has already taken place.
In fairness, I have to admit, I'd have trouble letting someone on the ballot who had 'Fred Flinstone' and 'Mickey Mouse' signing for him.
Yea, too many Specter supporters are for the husband of the widow of the former Specter colleague, John Heinz, I presume.
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