The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that independent candidate Ralph Nader will not be on the Oregon presidential ballot. In reversing a lower court decision that would have permitted his inclusion, the state's Supreme Court upheld Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's finding that Nader was 218 short of the 15,306 signatures he needed to be placed on the ballot.

At issue in the case was whether Bradbury's unwritten procedures for validating the signatures constituted an abuse of authority. The Supreme Court found that the unwritten procedures were merely a process through which Bradbury exercised his authority. Read the Oregon Supreme Court opinion here [PDF]. AP has more. Ralph Nader has issued a press release reacting to the ruling and says he will appeal to the US Supreme Court.