CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller declined Monday to decide whether a petition to limit the growth of spending by state and local governments should be placed on the November election ballot, although far more people signed the petition than required.

Spokesman John Trent said Heller wants to talk with the attorney general's office about whether a one-word typing error on the Tax and Spending Control in Nevada petition is significant enough to disqualify it from the ballot. Trent said a decision on the petition might not come until Friday or next week.

The one-word error, according to calculations by AFL-CIO state Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson, would allow spending by state government to increase by $1.3 billion more than intended by TASC leader and state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas.

Beers said he expects Heller eventually will certify his petition has qualified for the ballot. He said the error might even build support for the measure.

"I would think if anybody had concerns before, then they should be assuaged by the more generous number," said Beers, a Republican candidate for governor.

Thompson, however, said he and his staff have gathered evidence that indicates at least 40 percent of the petition's signatures are invalid. He said he and the Nevadans for Nevada organization, a coalition that includes several unions including teachers, police and firefighters, will go to court to have the petition thrown out if Heller decides to place it on the ballot.

The group has said that TASC would hamper local and state governments' ability to adequately serve the public, especially during emergencies when there might be a quick need for additional spending.

"Either way, it is going to end up in court," Thompson said. "If Heller kicks it off and we win, then they will take it to court. We go to court if he doesn't. This is going to be a full employment act for lawyers."

Monday was the deadline for county election department registrars across the state to finish verifying the validity of signatures on the TASC petition and an eminent domain petition circulated by former District Judge Don Chairez.

The People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land, or PISTOL, would stop abuses in which government acquires private land through eminent domain proceedings and then sells the land to facilitate private development.

The petition states government transfers of land from one private party to another are not allowed public uses.

Trent said the secretary of state's office was short-staffed Monday and could not finish adding and analyzing signature information forwarded by the counties.

However, sources close to the office said the counties reported far more valid signatures on both petitions than the 83,184 minimum needed to qualify them for spots on the November ballot. TASC initially claimed 156,000 people signed its petition, while Chairez reported he gathered 136,000 signatures.

A source said the Chairez petition could be certified as early as today.

The petitions, which would amend the state constitution, must be approved by voters in November and again in 2008 before they could take effect.

Under TASC, spending increases by local and state governments starting in 2009 would be limited to no more than the combined rate of population growth and inflation.

Residents signed petitions that made 2007 the starting year from which to calculate population growth and inflation.

But before collecting signatures, TASC representatives gave the secretary of state's office its official petition, which stated the starting year from which to calculate population growth and inflation should be 2005.

Bob Adney, the manager of the TASC campaign, said the petition his organization circulated was the correct one. The one given to the secretary of state contained "a secretarial error," he added.

"In the end it may be a benefit to people who want to expand government faster," Adney said.

But Beers, a certified public accountant, said the mistake does not necessarily mean state spending can grow $1.3 billion past the TASC limitation.

If he is elected governor in 2006, then Beers said he would veto any budget that allowed state spending in 2007 to expand faster than population growth and inflation.

"Given the fact that everyone in state government so far has said there will be no tax hikes in 2007, then actual state spending increases will be lower than the ($1.3 billion) number," he added.

Thompson said he had circulated enough petitions to know one must file a petition with the secretary of state "that shows exactly what you intend to do."

"I have had petitions thrown out because lines were numbered wrong," Thompson said. "This is a $1.3 billion mistake. It is kind of hilarious."

If forced to go to court to toss out the petition, Thompson said Nevadans for Nevada would also challenge whether some signatures on the TASC petition were authentic.

The group said it found fraud in the petition signatures widespread enough to cast doubt on whether enough of the signatures were real.

The group released photocopies of TASC petitions signed by people who gave California addresses, as well as one signer whose "address" was the Valley View Recreation Center and another who claimed to live at a Smith's grocery store.

In other cases, petition circulators, some of them from other states, also signed the petition using different addresses.

Ten examples were provided of the same name on the petition at least twice, or even three times in a row, sometimes on different pages.

The group also cited many examples in which it claimed handwriting was suspiciously similar.

Thompson said the Arno Political Consulting organization collected signatures both for tax and spending control and the eminent domain petitions.

From looking at the petitions, Thompson said he believes petition signatures for TASC were "copied" from the PISTOL petitions.

Adney, however, dismissed his criticism.

He said Arno has faced similar allegations of fraud in other states and always prevailed in court.

Review-Journal writer Molly Ball contributed to this report.