ACLU TRIES TO SAVE MARIJUANA INITIATIVE

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and supporters of a
failed proposal to ease the state's marijuana laws have filed a
federal lawsuit that seeks to revive the measure in time for this
year's general election.

Accompanying the lawsuit was an emergency motion for a court order
that would force Secretary of State Dean Heller to place the
initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The motion says more than 66,000 registered voters signed petitions
for the initiative, but officials barred the measure from the ballot
"based on a raft of unreasonable, purposeless and unconstitutional
restrictions."

When election officials finished deleting what they considered invalid
signatures, the proposal fell short -- by just 1,249 signatures -- of
the minimum 51,337 needed to qualify for the ballot.

Steve George, Heller's spokesman, said officials at the secretary of
state's office needed more time to review the lawsuit, filed Tuesday
in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, before commenting on it.

Joining the ACLU of Nevada in filing the action were the Committee to
Regulate and Control Marijuana, the Marijuana Policy Project and
several individual petition circulators and registered Nevada voters.

"What is paramount for us is the integrity of the process," said Gary
Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada. "We want to make sure
that the rights of the voting public are properly respected and no one
is unlawfully disenfranchised. In this case, we actually support the
legalization of small amounts of marijuana."

The lawsuit challenges a "13 counties rule" that requires an
initiative to have 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.

According to the document, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco recently struck down an Idaho restriction that mirrors
Nevada's rule. Nevada is part of the 9th Circuit.

The suit also questions a rule requiring a registered voter to sign
the petition and sign an affidavit verifying that others who signed
the petition are registered voters.

Also questioned was the state's refusal to count the petition
signatures of those who simultaneously signed voter registration
applications.