CARSON CITY, Nev. - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader appeared to be just a few hundred signatures short of making the ballot in Nevada, but supporters found out this week they'll have to start over.

Nader supporter Stan Vaughan said he has gathered about 4,800 signatures to put Nader on the ballot, just short of the roughly 5,000 needed by July 9.

Vaughan said he and about a dozen volunteers, mostly college students, took just two weeks in May to get the signatures.

"There are a lot of people out there who are just not going to vote unless they have a good option like Nader," Vaughan said.

But the secretary of state's office cautioned Vaughan on Monday that state law requires that petitions to put a third-party candidate on the ballot must name both the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Nader doesn't have a vice presidential nominee yet, so Vaughan's signatures easily could be challenged if he were to submit them, said Steve George, spokesman for Secretary of State Dean Heller.

The law is designed that way because people have a right to know the full ticket they're supporting when they sign a petition, George said.

Vaughan said he's undeterred and will attempt to start gathering new signatures as soon as he can.

"Believe me, I was pretty stunned and pretty crestfallen," Vaughan said. "But that only lasted for a short period of time. It's just one of those things where you dust yourself off and get back up again."

The problem, Vaughan and Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said, is that they don't know when Nader will designate a vice presidential nominee.

In 2000, Nader received 15,008 votes in Nevada. The difference between President Bush, who won the state, and Al Gore was 21,597 votes.