CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - More than 80,000 voters in Nevada won’t get a choice on who represents them in the Legislature due to a new law that changes longstanding procedures in races that only attract candidates from one party.
This year, the changes will affect three Assembly races that only include Republicans and one Senate race that only includes Democrats, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported (https://bit.ly/1XrL5e5).
The new law says only the top finisher from each party in the primary can advance to the general election ballot, so a candidate with no competition from another party could become the de factor winner of a seat.
In addition, Nevada primaries are closed, meaning voters can only cast ballots in the primary of the party in which they are registered. That means, for example, that Democrats and independents can’t vote in a Republican primary.
Critics say the law can disenfranchise voters by denying many voters a say in electing candidates.
“You’re basically saying, ’We’re OK having a very small portion of one political party choosing who is going to represent a whole district in the Legislature,’” said Doug Goodman, who writes a blog on election trends. “A good portion of the electorate gets cut out of the process.”
The old rule specified that when only two candidates from one party are running, there was no primary and candidates competed only in the general election, which is open to all voters. If more than two candidates of the same party were running, the top two finishers in the primary faced off in the general election.
Sen. James Settelmeyer, a Republican who presented the change in Senate Bill 499, downplayed the importance of all voters choosing between two members of the same party and compared it to deciding between the beers Bud and Bud Light.
“I do not personally see a benefit of having two Republicans or two Democrats in a general election, because it’s not much of a choice,” he said.
The final version of the bill was drastically different from its initial version, which aimed to create a primary system in which candidates of all political parties would appear on the ballot and the top two would move to the general election.
Settelmeyer said that version went down in flames. The final iteration passed unanimously in the Senate, won a 27-15 vote in the Assembly and was signed by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval.
One of the lawmakers affected will be Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, a Las Vegas Democrat who’s running against Democratic newcomer Stephen Munford in a district that has attracted no Republican candidates.
“It is incumbent upon the other party or nonpartisans to field the candidate they want in these races so they can vote for them,” said Atkinson.
Other races that will be decided in June include Assembly District 13, in which Republican Assemblyman Paul Anderson will face Republican challengers Leonard Foster and Steve William Sanson; Assembly District 19, in which incumbent Assemblyman Chris Edwards will face a challenge from fellow Republican Connie Foust, and Assembly District 26, in which Republicans Lisa Krasner and Jason Guinasso will compete for an open seat.
State statistics show more than 80,000 voters in the four affected districts are either nonpartisan and can’t participate in a primary, or are registered with a party that hasn’t fielded a candidate in those races.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, https://www.lvrj.com
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