MARIJUANA PETITION SIGNATURE COUNT BACK ON AFTER RULING

LAS VEGAS -- A federal judge breathed new life into an initiative to
legalize up to one ounce of marijuana on Friday and declared two
Nevada petition requirements that left the measure short of qualifying
for the ballot were unconstitutional.

However, U.S. District Judge James Mahan refused to order Nevada
Secretary of State Dean Heller to put the marijuana measure on the
Nov. 2 ballot.

Instead, Mahan said, verification of the 66,000 names submitted on
petitions statewide would determine if supporters reached the required
51,337 valid signatures.

"If you've got the signatures, then it's on the ballot," Mahan told
lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, the
Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, the Marijuana Policy Project.

A previous count using sampling techniques certified 50,088 signatures
statewide -- just 1,024 short of the requirement.

County election officials have until Aug. 31 to verify signatures,
said Victoria Thimmesch Oldenburg, the senior deputy state attorney
general who argued the case to keep the initiative off the ballot.

Matthew Brinckerhoff, a New York lawyer representing the two marijuana
advocacy groups, said there was "a decent likelihood" of qualifying
the initiative to let Nevada adults possess and use one ounce of marijuana.

Nevada voters have approved the use of marijuana for medical reasons,
but in 2002 overwhelmingly rejected a measure to legalize up to 3
ounces of marijuana.

Because the latest measure would amend the Nevada Constitution, voters
would have to approve it in November and again in 2006 before it could
take effect.

In his ruling, Mahan invalidated Nevada's so-called "13 counties rule"
as a violation of the federal Constitution's "equal protection" clause
ensuring one-person, one-vote.

The rule required initiative supporters to collect signatures from at
least 10 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the most
recent general election in at least 13 of the state's 17 counties.

Saying he wanted to ensure voters were not disenfranchised, Mahan said
the 13-of-17 counties rule gave more weight to rural counties than
populous areas.

He also declared the state's "dual affidavit" requirement was
unconstitutional. It called for a registered Nevada voter to sign each
petition and a separate document attesting to the validity of each
name on the petition.

Mahan said one affirmation was enough, even if non-Nevada residents or
nonvoters collect the signatures.

Arguments on the dual affidavit requirement also are scheduled Aug. 31
before the Nevada Supreme Court.

Mahan rejected a challenge of the state's refusal to count petition
signatures of those registering to vote at the same time or after
signing petitions.

"The state is entitled to set reasonable (election) regulations,"
Mahan said.

Brinckerhoff said he intends to appeal that element of Mahan's ruling
to the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Larry Lomax, Clark County registrar of voters, said after the hearing
that rural counties would be hard pressed to check the validity of
signatures, and the pressure will be excruciating in Las Vegas.

While preparing for the primary and general elections, Lomax said he
has had to hire 16 temporary workers to meet Heller's end-of-the-month
deadline to verify tens of thousands of signatures on an "Ax the Tax"
initiative. That measure would repeal last year's record $833 million
state tax increase.

That effort began when a judge gave Nevadans for Sound Government
extra time to collect signatures after some of the initiative
sponsor's signature-gatherers testified they had been harassed and
arrested outside government buildings.

Officials said Mahan's Friday ruling also gives new life to an
unrelated measure seeking to ban public employees from serving in the
Legislature. It was disqualified based on the 13-of-17 county
requirement.

"I just got told to verify 81,000 more signatures," Lomax
said.