Vote on Vietnam Petition Rejected By Cambridge Election Commision

The City's Election Commission has thrown out Cambridge Vote on Vietnam's anti-war petition.

Election Commission officials said yesterday that only 2361 of the petition's 8756 signatures were valid. This left it far short of the 3624 valid signatures needed to put it on the City's November 7 ballot.

Another anti-war petition sponsored by the Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam passed the signature test last week. Two Cambridge City Councillors--Cornelia B. Wheeler and Thomas H. D. Mahoney--have announced their suport of CNCV's struggle to assure that their petition will appear on the ballot. Meanwhile, CNCV, on the assumption that their petition will be on the ballot, is beginning a door-to-door campaign for its adoption.

Beginning last February, the Vote on Vietnam petition was circulated in the low-income neighborhoods of North and East Cambridge. It concluded that "The war serves only the interests of business. The U.S. should get out of Vietnam." The wording reflected the Progressive Labor philosophy of several of Vote on Vietnam's leaders. PL is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist group.

Samuel T. Scott, one of the sponsors of the Vote on Vietnam petition said yesterday that he did not know what Vote on Vietnam's next move would be. He added that they planned to make their own check of the petition's signatures before deciding whether to challenge the Election Commission's count.

Allan R. Rosenberg, attorney for Vote on Vietnam, said that he would advise the group against contesting the count. According to Rosenberg, a reversal of the commission's findings would require a complete recount with a district judge overseeing the Election Commission's work. He commented that obtaining the additional 1300 valid signatures would be "almost too painful to contemplate."