Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

State Supreme Court declines to get involved in voter registration fraud case

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court refused Monday to grant an order to allow a Sparks couple that suspects their registrations were discarded by a company hired by the Republican Party to vote in today's election.

The court ruled 5-0 that Eric Amberson and Traci Amberson should have first taken their case to a District Court. The justices ruled against the couple, although the Ambersons had copies of receipts for the voter registration forms they filled out last month. The Ambersons are Democrats, according to their lawyers.

"This court is ill-equipped to resolve factual issues, such as whether petitioners are qualified electors and whether they submitted properly completed voter registration forms," the court stated in a brief decision.

The Ambersons registered on Oct. 2 with a canvasser outside a Reno Wal-Mart, according to court documents. When they didn't get sample ballots by mail they became alarmed and contacted the Washoe County registrar's office. They learned they were not registered.

The couple has receipts for the registrations that indicate their forms were among the batch given to Voter Outreach of America, a firm operated by Sproul & Associates of Chandler, Ariz. Sproul was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters..

The company is under investigation in Nevada and Oregon over allegations that workers destroyed Democrats' voter registration forms.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Charles Springer, who represented the Ambersons, said he asked the court late Monday to rehear its decision. He said there is still a remote chance the court could reconsider and allow the couple to vote today.

"There are no questions of fact," Springer said. "They got receipts. No one has ever denied that. They should be entitled to vote. But it may be futile now."

Springer said it would be irresponsible to deny the couple the right to vote unless it can be shown they are lying.

According to Springer, Voter Outreach was given 4,000 voter registration forms in Clark County and 1,500 in Washoe County.

In the lawsuit, Springer and Reno lawyer Peter Chase Neumann said they were appealing on behalf of all people in Nevada who registered and for some reason have not been allowed to vote.

In Las Vegas last month, District Judge Valerie Adair denied the Democratic Party's request to reopen voter registration to voters whose registrations might have been destroyed by Voter Outreach of America.

The FBI and state officials are reviewing comments by Eric Russell, a former employee of Voter Outreach of America, who claims to have witnessed supervisors throwing away Democrats' voter registration forms. The company has denied the charges and filed a lawsuit against Russell.