Marijuana Initiative

Backers Cry Foul Over Verification Process

Petition Supporters Want a Closer View of Manual Recount

Marijuana-regulation initiative supporters whose legal action recently
required Clark County to manually verify petition signatures said
Friday that election officials are treating them unfairly.

Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana members say they have been
denied their right to observe the verification process up close.

Since the process began Monday, committee members have been restricted
to a cordoned-off area at the rear of two conference rooms where
temporary employees and county workers are verifying signatures on the
marijuana initiative petition.

Some members of the committee scanned computer screens with a mounted
video-camera, others used binoculars. Their purpose is to ensure
verification is executed properly.

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Nevada, on Friday called the county's emergency verification process
"chaotic and confusing."

"The point is the public has a right to expect the people overseeing
an election to do everything possible to inspire public trust in the
process," Pecks said. "They are inviting more litigation."

The marijuana committee and the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the
county in July, claiming its petition process was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan agreed. Last week, he ruled
unconstitutional the "13-counties rule." That rule stated in order to
place an initiative on the ballot, the petition 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.

To qualify for the ballot, petitioners needed 51,337 signatures.
Because the "13-counties rule" is no longer in effect, county
elections divisions must verify all signatures to determine if they
reach the necessary amount.

Clark County has until Aug. 30 to verify 120,000 signa-
tures.

The measures that could be placed on the ballot as a result of the
verification process are the effort to legalize possession of up to 1
ounce of marijuana; an initiative to repeal a state tax increase; and
a petition that seeks to ban public workers from serving in the state
Legislature.

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Mary-Anne Miller said the county
has only heard complaints about access from supporters of the
marijuana initiative.

The committee originally asked to station a member next to every
election worker verifying signatures, said Larry Lomax, the county's
registrar of voters.

"That would just be ridiculous," Lomax said. "It's a public process
and they have a right to watch us do it, not take part in it. They
can't counter every decision all the way through. We'll never get
finished with it."

Lomax said the committee will be supplied with a print-out of every
decision election employees make on signa-tures.

"This will all go to court," Lomax said. "They will somehow portray
that somehow we are doing something to prevent them from successfully
passing this petition."

Peck complained about the difference in verification center
configurations.

At the station in the elections office, which was used for the tax
repeal petition, computers faced each other. Observers were allowed to
circle the bank of computers, closely viewing each screen.

In the county conference rooms, where the marijuana petition was
verified, two lines of computers all face the front of the room. On
Friday, committee members were given permission to walk alongside the
rows in one room, where employees stations were broken into four sections.

In a second room with less space, they were asked to remain in the
back.

"Here we are at the end of the week and it wasn't until we showed up
at the scene that they relented," Peck said.