Nader denied spot on two more ballots

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A state court knocked Ralph Nader off Pennsylvania's presidential ballot on Wednesday, citing thousands of fradulent signatures including "Mickey Mouse" and "Fred Flintstone."

The ruling was one of two new setbacks for Nader. Also Wednesday, a federal judge denied the consumer advocate's bid for a spot on Hawaii's ballot.

In Pennsylvania, describing Nader's petitions as "rife with forgeries," Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins said that fewer than 19,000 of the more than 51,000 signatures Nader's supporters submitted were valid. Nader needed at least 25,697 to be listed on the ballot as an independent candidate.

"I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court," Colins said in a 15-page ruling that followed a two-week review in multiple courtrooms across the state.

"The conduct of the candidates, through their representatives [not their attorneys], shocks the conscience of the court," he said. "In reviewing signatures, it became apparent that, in addition to signing names such as 'Mickey Mouse,' 'Fred Flintstone,' 'John Kerry,' and the ubiquitous 'Ralph Nader,' there were thousands of names that were created at random and then randomly assigned either existent or nonexistent addresses by the circulators."

The signature review was prompted by a court challenge filed by a group of voters sympathetic to Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry.

To win a spot on Hawaii's ballot, Nader needed 3,711 valid signatures, 1 percent of the number of voters in the last general election. He submitted far more than required, but election officials rejected many, leaving him 587 signatures short. While ruling that Hawaii's requirement was constitutional, U.S. District Judge David Ezra noted that a review of rejected signatures on the Nader petitions has not been finalized.

Democrats have had mixed success in their effort to keep Nader off the ballot in battleground states where they fear he could siphon votes from John Kerry. Besides Pennsylvania and Hawaii, Nader failed to make the ballot in Ohio, Oregon and Missouri but has succeeded in winning a spot on ballots in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Overall, Nader will be on the ballot in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Nader's unsettled status had caused headaches for elections officials in Pennsylvania's 67 counties as the court proceedings bumped up against the timetable for mailing out larger-than-usual batches of absentee ballots.

Some counties heeded the state's recommendation that they not send out civilian absentee ballots until after the court case was settled, but many counties decided to mail out ballots that included Nader so that voters have time to cast them by the Oct. 29 deadline. Absentee votes cast for Nader are likely to be thrown out, officials have said.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore carried Pennsylvania, beating George W. Bush by fewer than 205,000 votes out of 4.9 million cast. Nader, the Green Party nominee that year, received 103,392 votes.

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Associated Press Writer Ron Staton in Honolulu contributed to this report.