Reform Party’s Nominating Process Runs Into Snags

SAN DIEGO — Technical problems continue to plague the fledging Reform Party’s nominating process: Presidential candidate Richard D. Lamm finally got his ballot--more than a week after most were mailed. And the leader of the party’s New York wing complained Thursday of “major discrepancies” in balloting in her state.

New York state could be an important source of voting strength for Lamm, the former Colorado governor, in his battle against Texas billionaire Ross Perot for the new party’s nomination.

But Laureen Oliver of Rochester, N.Y., said many of her fellow Independence Party members--the group the Reform Party linked itself with in New York--have yet to receive their ballots.

“Whole counties were missed,” said Oliver, who helped nominate Lamm at the opening of the Reform Party convention in Long Beach on Sunday.

The latest flap over the voting came as Lamm and Perot prepared to travel to Valley Forge, Pa., for the concluding session of the two-part nominating process--a campaign kickoff rally on Sunday.

The voting for the nomination ends Saturday, and the results should be known Saturday night, said Sharon Holman, a spokeswoman for Perot and the Reform Party.

In New York, Oliver said that some ballots have gone to state members of United We Stand, the activist organization formed after Perot’s 1992 presidential bid. United We Stand is separate from the Reform Party.

Oliver said the ballot distribution violates the agreement by which her group allied itself with the Reform Party for the 1996 election: that the only votes cast from New York in the nomination contest would be by members of the Independence Party.

“Do I blame Perot?” Oliver said in a telephone interview. “That’s the thing I can’t honestly say. But his people seem hellbent on winning.”

In Dallas, Holman said any problem in getting ballots to New Yorkers may stem from the fact that Oliver submitted a list of Independence Party members on paper and not on a computer disk.

“The list had a lot of misinformation on it,” Holman said, such as out-of-date telephone numbers and mailing addresses.

The Reform Party, which Perot launched almost a year ago, linked itself with the 40,000-member Independence Party because New York election laws make it difficult to qualify new parties for the ballot.

The arrangement could benefit Lamm as he seeks to overcome Perot’s inherent advantage in most states as founder of the Reform Party. Since “we weren’t built by Ross Perot,” Independence Party members would not have the sort of loyalty to Perot that would be expected in most other states, Oliver said.

Lamm and his daughter, Heather, finally received their ballots this week after Perot cut some red tape, Holman confirmed.

Last weekend, Lamm said his failure to get a ballot was an example of the administrative problems that appeared to be plaguing the voting process.

About 1.1 million paper ballots were mailed the first week in August to all members of the Reform Party and, as in the New York case, affiliated parties in some states.

Members could return the ballots at any time by mail. Following the Long Beach convention, during which speeches by Lamm and Perot were televised live nationwide, members also could vote by telephone or computer mail, using a personal identification number similar to that used at automated bank teller machines.

Also Thursday, the Dallas Morning News reported that Perot had invited Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) to be his running mate, but she declined. Holman declined comment, saying that Perot would not announce a running mate until he officially wins the nomination.

Lamm, who served as Colorado’s governor as a Democrat, earlier chose former Republican Rep. Ed Zschau of the San Jose area as his vice presidential candidate.