PEROT BOWS OUT : Perot Vague on Whether Name Stays on Ballots : Campaign: Petitions have been filed in 31 states. By not asking for his name to be removed, he could still play the role of spoiler for Bush and Clinton.

Although Ross Perot said Thursday that he is dropping his campaign for President, he left open a crucial question: whether he will move to keep his name off the ballot in states where he has qualified to appear.

His vagueness on the subject at a news conference in Dallas raised the possibility that he could still play a spoiler role, even inadvertently, and drain votes from President Bush and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.

In most of the 31 states where Perot volunteers already have filed petitions to get him on the Nov. 3 ballot, Perot or his designated electors must submit a written request to remain off.

But Perot did not give a clear picture of his intentions, or of what he wants his volunteers to do.

At his news conference, Perot encouraged volunteers in New York and other states to complete their ballot-access petitions “so that everybody running for President will know the names and addresses of all the people who are not happy with the way things are today.”

He also said that if “the volunteers in all 50 states . . . want to stay together as a 50-state unit and try to really influence the political process . . . certainly I owe it to them to get together with them any time they want to.”

Election officials in key states, such as Texas, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Arkansas, said that--unless Perot sends them a letter of withdrawal--his name will appear on the ballot. Morton H. Meyerson, the Texan’s closest confidant, said he believes Perot will ask that his name be taken off the ballot in all states.

California Secretary of State March Fong Eu decided immediately after Perot’s announcement that he would not be certified for the ballot there, even though his volunteers filed far more than the required number of signatures--1.4 million--on a petition last month. The needed 170,006 have been declared valid.

Eu said that a second step in the process--in which a candidate’s electors file for certification--has not been completed “and we assume (it) will not be by the Aug. 7 deadline,” said a spokeswoman, Melissa Warren. Only 38 of the required 54 electors have completed the paperwork, she added.

If Perot’s electors challenge that decision, the matter probably will wind up in court, Warren said.

In North Carolina, where ballots already are about to go to press for the Nov. 3 election, a state election official said he would give Perot or his volunteers a few days to send in a withdrawal request.

“I’ve always said it takes three days for disappointment to dilute itself enough to become rational,” said Alex Brock, executive director of the State Board of Elections, explaining his willingness to wait.

Steve Frederick, the head of the Perot campaign in Tennessee, said he plans tentatively to pull Perot’s name off the ballot there but might change his mind if there is “still evidence of strong support in 50 states.”

Tennessee law permits only designated electors such as Frederick, not the candidate himself, to withdraw from the ballot after a petition has been successfully filed.

Ann Smith, a volunteer at Perot headquarters in Alabama, said the picture there is “very confusing” and her colleagues are uncertain what to do.

A spokesman in the Alabama secretary of state’s office said it had been tentatively decided to keep Perot’s name off the ballot, despite the fact that he had qualified last month. “But this is a unique situation, and we are doing a lot of research into all the possible scenarios,” said the spokesman, Steve Prince.

In electoral-vote-rich Texas, where polls have shown Perot holding a lead over Bush and Clinton, state election officials said Perot has to submit a letter of withdrawal by Aug. 31.

“Otherwise, votes cast in his favor will be counted, which could be rather significant,” said Mark Bell, a spokesman in the secretary of state’s office.

In Georgia, election officials continued reviewing signatures on a Perot ballot petition even after he announced that he was quitting the race.

“We’re trying to reach the Perot campaign here. We’ll go by their wishes,” said Charlene Dawkins, an aide to the secretary of state.

Colorado Secretary of State Natalie Meyer said: “Mr. Perot needs to write us a letter and ask us to remove his name from the general election ballot prior to Sept. 14. If he doesn’t, his name will go on the ballot.”

In Arkansas, where Clinton is governor, a spokesman for the secretary of state said Perot “will be on the ballot unless he withdraws. There would need to be a letter.”

In Massachusetts, volunteers filed 22,494 signatures last month to put Perot on the ballot there. To keep himself off the ballot, he has to write Secretary of State John Hannah Jr. by Aug. 31.