MARIJUANA REFERENDUM MAY GET NEW LIFE

Appeals Court to Rule Tuesday on Counting 2,360 Rejected Signatures

CARSON CITY -- Nevada voters may get a chance to legalize marijuana
after all, the secretary of state's office announced Thursday.

A day after Secretary of State Dean Heller announced the marijuana
petition drive fell 1,925 signatures short of what's needed to qualify
for the Nov. 2 ballot, his assistant said 2,360 previously rejected
signatures could put the petition over the top.

These are signatures of newly registered voters in Clark County that
U.S. District Judge James Mahan ruled last month should not be counted.

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana appealed that decision
to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court is expected to
rule by Tuesday.

Deputy Secretary of State Renee Parker said if the marijuana committee
wins the appeal, then the petition will go on the ballot. She was
notified Thursday of the 2,360 potentially valid signatures by Clark
County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax.

"We don't have to check other counties," Parker said. "There are
enough signatures in Clark County alone to put them on the ballot."

"We really have a shot at this," said Jennifer Knight, communications
director for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana. "The 9th
Circuit has a history of respecting voters' rights."

Mahan on Aug. 12 said county clerk and election registrars could not
count signatures of some newly registered voters.

Only registered voters can sign petitions. Some people registered to
vote and then signed the marijuana petition. But their voter
registration applications were not given to election department
workers for processing until later.

Therefore, it appeared they signed the petition before they officially
became registered voters.

The judge said the registrars should only count signatures of newly
registered voters whose applications were turned in the day they
signed petitions, or postmarked on the day they signed petitions.

Knight, however, charged a Clark County employee told her organization
it had 10 days to turn in registration applications.

"We just want them to honor that," Knight said. "The law is not
unclear. You have counties all over the state doing it
differently."

If approved by voters in November and again in 2006, the petition
would legalize up to 1 ounce of marijuana for adults. The petition
also would set up harsher penalties for vehicular manslaughter and
providing marijuana to minors.