Ralph Nader is back on Florida’s presidential ballot–for now.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood on Monday ordered Florida’s 67 election supervisors to add the Reform Party candidate’s name, just days after a Tallahassee judge sided with the state Democratic Party and stripped him from the ballot.
“We are acting as an honest broker,” Hood said.
But the move by Hood, appointed state elections chief by Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, quickly exploded into a partisan fight.
Scott Maddox, state Democratic Party chairman, charged that Hood was acting on behalf of Florida’s Republican Party, which is seen as wanting Nader on the ballot to pull votes from Democratic Sen. John Kerry.
Hood’s order to supervisors came moments after she appealed the temporary injunction against Nader issued last week by Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Davey.
There is a Saturday deadline for elections officials to mail about 50,000 ballots to military and other voters overseas.
