WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) -- Liberal independent Ralph Nader will likely not appear on the November ballot in Nevada, according to the Politics1 Web site.
The site reported Thursday that, on its own initiative, the group Nevada Independents collected and submitted in May enough petitions to get Nader on the state's presidential ballot. But because the petitions failed to list a running mate, they were void under Nevada law.
Petition drive organizer Stan Vaughan restarted his efforts in early June, listing a surrogate vice-presidential candidate on the petitions to make them conform to the requirements of Nevada law.
Vaughan said the group then collected more than 14,000 signatures only to have Nader's national campaign explicitly disavowed its efforts after it learned of them.
Several days ago, Politics1 said, the Nader campaign contacted Vaughan's group "to see if they could now use the petitions that Nader had previously disavowed."
The group, however, is now reluctant to cooperate because Nader chose Californian Peter Camejo as a running mate, someone Vaughan's group said is unacceptable.
"The treatment of Nevada Independents by the Nader campaign may spell a possible victory for Kerry in the state," Vaughan told the Web site.
