Is the Pahrump town board ballot question moving forward?

The push to let voters decide whether it’s time for Pahrump to return to a town board form of government is now officially over.

As of Tuesday, Feb. 17, the deadline to gather the number of signatures needed to have a question placed on the 2026 General Election ballot regarding restoring a town board was not met. However, those with the committee that has spent the last six months working on the petition intend to try again in the next general election cycle.

“The goal, or number of signatures required, is established by Nevada Revised Statute. This was 15% of the number of Pahrump voters in the previous election, which was 3,600 and unfortunately, we fell short of our goal,” longtime Pahrump resident and a lead proponent behind the petition, Dr. Tom Waters, told the Pahrump Valley Times.

“We didn’t fall short by too many but we didn’t reach our goal. There was a 180-day time limit, which is also established by Nevada Revised Statute, and we ran out of time,” he explained. “On Feb. 17, we collected the final filled-in petitions with the many signatures from several businesses that allowed us to have the petition at their locations but we realized that we just didn’t have enough total signatures to get the question placed on the ballot.”

Established in the late 1980s, the Pahrump Town Board was formerly the governing body for the town but in 2012, a ballot question led to its demise. In that 2012 general election, the community voted to dissolve the town board by a narrow margin of just 231 votes.

Today, the population of the town has almost doubled and supporters of the ballot question said they feel it would be appropriate to gauge the new makeup of the community for its stance on the situation. Detractors, however, say a town board is unnecessary as they feel the Nye County Commission is capable of governing the town, as it does currently.

Either way, Waters expressed his disappointment that the voters will not be able to cast their ballots on the matter.

“The question was, ‘Should the town of Pahrump have a town board form of government?’ This is truly a missed opportunity for our Pahrump community because several uninformed voices decided that they didn’t want any of us to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for a Pahrump town board.”

Despite the lack of success this time around, Waters said the push for this ballot initiative is not likely to disappear. “If we listen to the Pahrump Town Board Committee who put this all together, they say we’ll try again in August 2027 for the November 2028 election,” Waters noted. “We’re counting on all of you to get us quickly across the finish line. If we consider this 2025-2026 endeavor a ‘dry run’, we can easily get enough signatures next time.”

The Pahrump Town Board Committee offered its gratitude to those who supported this petition, as well as the Nye County Clerk’s Office and Nye County District Attorney’s Office for their guidance throughout the process.

“Thanks again to everyone who signed the petition and to all of the businesses that allowed us on their property. We sincerely thank each of you for your support and your efforts,” the committee stated.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com