On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to hear independent candidate Ralph Nader’s appeal of the recent Oregon Supreme Court ruling that prevents him from being on the state ballot. The appeal had sparked debate across the state concerning its validity, further igniting an already heated election season.
The Nader campaign filed the appeal last Friday after what Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese described as “fraudulent” actions by Oregon Democrats aimed at “disenfranchising voters and forcing them to vote for a candidate.”
The appeal contested a Sept. 22 state court ruling that barred Nader from a spot on the ballot. The court had ruled that Secretary of State Bill Bradbury was within the law when he invalidated about 3,000 of the nearly 18,000 signatures Nader supporters had gathered, leaving them just shy of the 15,306 needed to assure him a spot on the ballot.
Political officials and party representatives have differing opinions regarding the likelihood of the appeal being heard by the high court, which Secretary of State spokeswoman Anne Martens said gets flooded with thousands of similar appeals each year.
Martens said the Nader campaign’s chances of actually arguing the case before the high court were “slim to none,” adding, “It involves something that has traditionally been a state issue — elections.”
University law professor Keith Aoki, who has done research on voting rights issues, said he agrees with the court’s refusal to hear the appeal and isn’t surprised by it.
“I’m fairly unsympathetic to Nader and obviously so apparently was the Oregon State Supreme Court and the U.S Supreme Court,” Aoki said.
The Nader campaign was optimistic about the appeal, but after Tuesday’s high court decision its focus has turned to a write-in campaign in a last-ditch effort to allow voters to vote for their choice candidate, Zeese said.
“The secretary of state did not find any signatures invalid,” Zeese said. “He just threw them off because they weren’t numbered the way the secret rules said they should be numbered.”
Much controversy has surrounded what roles the Republican and Democratic Parties have played in Nader’s quest for a ballot spot. Allegations that the Republican Party is helping fund Nader’s petition drive and court battles are unfounded, Oregon Republican Party Communications Director Dawn Phillips said, and is an example of the deplorable tactics Democrats will use to keep a potential vote-getter off the ballot.
Nationwide opinion polls show this to be a very close race, which Phillips cites as the main reason for the Democratic Party’s assault on the Nader campaign.
Martens disagreed, saying there is no political motivation behind Bradbury’s decision, rather it was made because the signatures in question violated rules that were in place to prevent fraud and protect the voting process.
The Nader campaign will continue waging court battles in the other states that have declared him ineligible for a ballot spot, Zeese said. He added that states like Oregon, where the high court has declared the state court’s decision to be the law of the land, will see extensive efforts by Nader supporters to launch write-in campaigns.
For more information on Nader’s campaign visit www.naderoregon.org
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