The Election Commission turned down the offer of the Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam to pay the printing costs of 1,000 absentee referendum ballots at a meeting yesterday with Robert J. Reinstein, office manager of the referendum campaign.

Reinstein, a third-year law student, said the ballots, could be ready on Monday. This would have prevented any delay in distributing the ballots and in the ballot count. Councillor Cornelia B. Wheeler has proposed deferring the count until November 28. "The City has not yet answered why it didn't print absentee ballots already," said Mrs. Carolyn Carr, chairman of the CNCV.

The CNCV will stop canvassing this Wednesday. Reinstein explained that the group did not want to compete with the other candidates who will be canvassing only during those few days before the election.

Few Harvard Students

Reinstein also said he had expected more involvement from Harvard students in the campaign. He said about 100 undergraduates, 30 law students, and 30 graduate students did assist the CNCV.

"There's a feeling of impotence in the academic community. People feel they cannot affect what leders do through any respectable means," said Reinstein. "This has led many to give up the electoral process and to turn to more extreme techniques," he added.

Reinstein said he did not believe that the demonstration against Dow Chemical Company would have any adverse effect on people who might vote against the war on Election Day.

Over 3,000 new voters are registered for the election on November 7. Mrs. Carr said that for the last month of their campaign about 100 Cambridge residents have registered each day. "This shows tha anti-Vietnam sentiment in the City is very high," Mrs. Carr claimed.