Ralph Nader's name will appear on Wisconsin's November presidential ballot, the state's highest court ruled Thursday, overruling a decision earlier this week by a lower court.
The light-speed decision last night came the same day the Supreme Court met in an emergency hearing on the issue. It ends a three-week-long legal battle over the independent presidential candidate's ballot eligibility.
Questions about whether Nader satisfied the state's requirements to be on the ballot stem from his campaign's selection for an elector in the seventh congressional district. State statute requires that candidates provide signatures from 2,000 supporters and name one elector from each congressional district in addition to two at large electors.
Nader's seventh congressional district nominee does not actually reside within that district.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin, which brought the complaint against Nader, argued Thursday that the residency requirement precludes Nader from the ballot. However, the Supreme Court agreed with an earlier decision by the State Elections Board that the residency issue was not significant enough to warrant excluding Nader from the ballot.
Thursday's decision brings the number of presidential candidates on the Wisconsin ballot to seven. Nader's candidacy is likely to be significant, though, given Wisconsin's status as a swing state. In 2000, Nader received 94,070 votes in Wisconsin. Former Vice President Gore won the state by a margin of just 5,708 votes.
Representatives of Nader's campaign in Wisconsin hailed the decision as a victory for democracy. Attorney Robert Bernhoft, who represented the campaign, said the decision would be nationally significant by giving validity to Nader's candidacy.
Bill Linville, Wisconsin field director for the Nader campaign, expressed joy and relief that the legal ordeal had ended, saying now the group could concentrate their resources on actual campaigning.
\We haven't been able to spend as much time building networks and talking about issues,"" Linville said. That's going to change next week, he said, with Nader's running mate Peter Camejo expected to speak on campus Friday and more visibility for the campaign through tabling and other events.
For the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the Supreme Court's ruling brought a final blow. While saying ""it was a fair hearing of the issue,"" Lester Pines, the party's attorney suggested time constraints brought by quickly approaching deadlines for ballots to be printed and distributed likely contributed to their defeat.
State statute requires absentee ballots be mailed Monday.
