LOMAX SAYS STAFF EFFORT TO VERIFY SIGNATURES TO MEET DEADLINE

Temporary staff at the Clark County election office continued Monday
to verify signatures on two ballot initiatives, but Registrar of
Voters Larry Lomax said he expected the team to meet today's deadline.

"It's killing us, but we'll get it done," Lomax said.

A collection of temporary employees and Clark County workers taken
from various departments have spent nearly two weeks verifying
signatures on the "Ax the Tax" initiative designed to repeal the 2003
Legislature's $833 million tax increase, an effort to legalize
possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana, and an initiative seeking to
ban public workers from serving in the Legislature.

Signatures for the "Ax the Tax" initiative were verified last week and
shipped to the Secretary of State's office in Carson City. A recount
of the signatures last week showed the petition drive fell short by
4,548 names.

The manual verification was triggered by a U.S. District Court ruling
that Nevada's "13 counties rule" was unconstitutional. The rule states
in order to place an initiative on the ballot, it must include
signatures from at least 10 percent of the number of voters who voted
in the most recent general election in at least 13 of the state's 17
counties. Petitioners need 51,337 signatures because of the court's
ruling.

Counties must submit their list of signatures to the Secretary of
State's office by the end of the day.

"The secretary of state adds them all up and decides whether it passes
or fails," Lomax said.