Nader Backers Barely Beat
Ballot Deadline
By Seth Blomeley
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
For Nader to appear on the Nov. 2 Arkansas ballot for president, supporters
needed to give the secretary of state's office 1000 signatures of registered
Arkansas voters by 12 pm. Supporters said they turned in about 1100 signatures.
The secretary of state's office must verify whether they are signatures of
registered
According to the secretary of state's office, a presidential candidate can't
appear on the
That led to some confusion among the Nader backers.
"We need the name of your group," Tena Arnold, an elections clerk,
told three Nader supporters who had submitted the signatures.
"Let me call D.C.," responded the leader of the Nader group, Vincent
"Jim" Macri of
"We're the Nader Raiders of Arkansas!" joked Nader
supporter Wendy Crow of
Macri then called the Nader headquarters on his cell phone.
"What name should I use?" he asked. "The
Better Life?"
Macri then turned to
Macri filled out the paperwork to have Nader representing The Better Life
party.
After they had finished business in the secretary of state's office, Macri told
a reporter, "We're just a bunch of ragtag people trying to do the best we
can."
Macri then got a call from Nader headquarters. He said he was doing an
interview. After hanging up, he apologized but said he couldn't talk any more
because the national Nader people told him not to.
But Crow and the other Nader supporter, Brock Carpenter of Conway, were willing
to talk.
Carpenter said he supported Nader because he's the "only anti-war
candidate. We don't agree with the
control political parties have over our government." Carpenter rejected
assertions by some that it's pointless to vote for Nader because he won't win.
Carpenter said Nader supporters want to force change in the U.S. Constitution
to allow for runoffs in presidential elections.
Crow said Nader supporters won't take votes from Democrat John Kerry or from
Republican President Bush because they wouldn't have voted for wither one.
"I'd rather not vote than vote for someone I don't believe in," Crow
said.
Also turning in signatures was Shawn Sax of Rogers, a filed operative for the
Constitution Party. Sax said his party opposes activist liberal judges
rewriting the U.S. Constitution.
That party's candidate is Michael A. Peroutka of
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb of
In 2000, the final tally in the presidential race in