BACK ON TRACK

A federal judge has ruled that people who obeyed state government
rules on circulating ballot petitions did the right thing.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Mahan will send three
petitions to the Nevada Legislature and then (if the lawmakers fail to
approve them) on to the 2006 ballot.

Signature gatherers had followed instructions from state officials and
county clerks in gathering enough signatures to total 10 percent of
the number of people who voted in the 2002 Nevada general election.
After they turned in their signatures, the Nevada Attorney General's
Office said the petitioners made a mistake by following official rules
and should have used the 2004 election, not 2002, as a benchmark.
Under the new rule, all three petitions failed.

One of the petitions involves marijuana use, and two deal with tobacco
use.