Overcoming a legal challenge by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader learned Tuesday he will appear on the Wisconsin general presidential election ballot this year.

During a meeting in Brookfield, the State Elections Board denied the Democrats’ challenge that Nader’s filing was invalid under state law, thus granting Nader and running mate Peter Camejo a spot on the ballot.

The 5-4 vote ends two weeks of legal uncertainty for the Nader campaign.

The campaign submitted nomination papers containing 4,000 signatures to the board Sept. 7 seeking a spot on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. The board certified 3,685 of the signatures as valid, well above the 2,000 required to qualify, but the challenge from the Democratic Party temporarily removed Nader from the ballot.

“The board ruled in favor of the people of Wisconsin who want to have Ralph Nader on the ballot,” said Nader State Campaign Coordinator Bill Linville.

The Democrats hinged their challenge on two arguments, both of which the board shot down Tuesday.

The first complaint alleged that Nader failed to meet a state statute requiring candidates to list an elector from each of Wisconsin’s congressional districts. The elector Nader listed for the 8th District lived in the 7th District, which the campaign argued did not violate Wisconsin law.

The Nader campaign filed a request to change the disputed elector Sept. 13, leaving the Elections Board, with no clear precedent, to decide whether the misfiling disqualifies all of the nomination papers.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Seth Boffeli accused the board of allowing Nader to circumvent the state statute in his nomination papers.

“It’s a basic question of fairness — he failed to get one of the electors,” Boffeli said. “We feel if he can’t file with the same rules as everybody else, then he shouldn’t be on the ballot.”

The Democrats’ second complaint argued Nader cannot appear on the Wisconsin ballot because he appears as the Reform Party’s candidate in several other states. The Elections Board’s rejection of this argument, Boffeli said, proves it is willing to ignore state statutes in favor of political motives.

“The law states clearly that all requirements [for ballot access] are mandatory, but often with the State Elections Board you get a vote based on political affiliations,” Boffeli said.

With the board’s decision, the lone remaining avenue the Democrats can take to halt Nader’s access to the ballot is to challenge the ruling in court, said Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy.

Boffeli was not sure whether the Democratic Party would pursue such a case, saying they will explore their options before moving forward.

With ballot access finally cemented, Linville was happy the Democrats’ challenge was in the past for the Nader campaign in Wisconsin.

“It shows the Democrats are going to any length and using as much money as possible to keep him off of ballots,” Linville said. “I wish they would leave us alone and debate the issues. This whole thing is about avoiding a debate on the issues, because if that happened a lot of people who are voting for Kerry would vote for Nader.”

Nader’s inclusion on Wisconsin’s ballot brings the number of states in which he will appear on the ballot to 31, plus 13 others with litigation pending.