MARIJUANA, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES PETITIONS FAIL TO QUALIFY IN NEVADA

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A review of petitions to ban public employees
serving in the Nevada Legislature and legalize small amounts of
marijuana shows both lack enough signatures to qualify for the
November ballot, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Wednesday.

Heller said the public employees petition had 44,548 valid signatures,
while the marijuana petition had 49,412 names. Each needed a minimum
of 51,227.

The examination was prompted following U.S. District Judge Jim Mahan's
recent ruling against a state requirement that a petition must qualify
with the signatures of at least 10 percent of voters in 13 of the
state's 17 counties.

Heller ordered county clerks to verify all the signatures attached to
the two petitions, along with a third calling for the repeal of a
record $833 million Nevada tax increase. Heller announced Monday that
the tax petition had failed to qualify.

The marijuana initiative was sponsored by the Committee to Regulate
and Control Marijuana and would have legalized possession of up to 1
ounce of marijuana by adults in Nevada.

"We expected this would happen but we just didn't expect it would be
such a large margin," said committee spokeswoman Jennifer Knight. She
added the loss of several hundred signatures just in the Reno area
"sends up a red flag."

But Knight also said a pending case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals could revive the marijuana petition. She said it's now about
1,900 signatures short of the minimum needed - and a victory in the
federal appeals court would add more than that just from the Las Vegas
area.

The public employees initiative stems from controversy over full-time
government employees also serving in Nevada's part-time Legislature.
It could have affected as many as 16 of the state's 63
legislators.

"We don't believe there's a conspiracy. It's just bureaucrats run amok
and they're capriciously and arbitrarily throwing out signatures
without any rhyme or reason," said George Harris of Nevadans for Sound
Government, which sought the vote on restricting public employees'
service in the Legislature.

Harris said election officials have a responsibility to "give the
benefit of the doubt to the voters. ... The worst thing I can think of
is the very first experience for registered voters to have is to have
their signature or their vote thrown out. That's what causes all this
apathy."