53°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Statewide ballot questions gaining voter support, early returns show —but not in Nye County

A majority of voters in the state on Thursday were supporting all three statewide ballot questions, including one aimed at overhauling the partisan primary system in Nevada —just not in Nye County, where voters were overwhelmingly casting choices against them, according to early results.

Ballot Question 3 would eliminate partisan primaries for Congress, the Nevada Legislature and statewide constitutional offices, allowing all voters, regardless of party affiliation, to vote in these primary contests. The top five vote-getters would advance to the general election, where voters would then select their preferred candidate and rank the remainder.

In returns as of Thursday, 51.84 percent of voters had voted “yes” on Question 3, and 48.16 percent had cast “no” votes.

Nye County voters were rejecting it by a 53-to-46 percent margin on Thursday with more ballots still to be counted.

Shane Lewis said he voted against Ballot Question 3 because it “kind of turns it (voting) into a circus.”

“Either party could sabotage the other,” said Lewis, 49, who was voting Tuesday evening with his 90-year-old grandmother, Donna Lewis.

But nonpartisan Renee Lee supported the measure, saying she has wanted to vote in partisan primaries for a long time. “I’m glad they’re making changes,” the 50-year-old said.

Meanwhile, Ballot Question 1’s equal rights amendment was winning by a wide margin. The question would amend the Nevada Constitution to add a specific guarantee of equality under the law regardless of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.

Early statewide returns showed 57.4 percent of votes in favor of Question 1 and 42.5 percent in opposition. In Nye County, voters were 56.24 percent against the measure and 43.7 percent in favor.

The remaining statewide ballot question, Question 2, which would require a $12 minimum wage, also was gaining approval. The measure also would remove the existing provision allowing employers that provide health insurance to pay $1 less per hour.

Statewide voters on Thursday were approving Question 2 with 54.2 percent of votes in favor of it and 45.7 percent against, while Nye County voters were 55 percent against the measure and about 45 percent in support.

Question 3

Question 3, formally called the Better Voting Nevada Initiative, launched with an initiative petition filed by a political action committee called Nevada Voters First.

According to the PAC, the current partisan election process excludes more than one-third of all Nevada voters from casting ballots in primary elections and is controlled by the two major political parties.

Prominent conservative and progressive politicians and groups have panned the measure.

John Tsarpalas, president of the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute, said the measure was confusing and disenfranchising, and could lead to one party meddling in the other’s primary.

Annette Magnus, executive director of Battle Born Progress, said the measure is backed by out-of-state billionaires who want to test their election theory in Nevada. “And I don’t want to be anybody’s guinea pig,” she said.

But Sondra Cosgrove, executive director of Vote Nevada, said changing the system would foster more moderate candidates and less divisiveness. Her group is part of a coalition supporting the measure.

To opponents, she said, “What is your solution, because our system seems to be failing a lot of people.”

If approved, the measure would come before voters again in 2024.

Question 1

Supporters of Question 1 say that it would close gaps in discrimination protection, including in unequal pay for women and in pregnancy discrimination.

Opponents say that it would be used by biological males and transgender athletes as a basis to undermine women’s sports by paving the way for them to compete unfairly against women and girls in school sports and for athletic scholarships.

Magnus said the opponents’ argument is a “scare tactic,” and both transphobic and homophobic.

“This is happening in Title 9 right now in sports for women,” Tsarpalas said. The wording of the measure is open to interpretation, including in regards to the rights of children over those of parents, he said.

“It’s too early to put this into a constitution,” he said. “It needs to get figured out, debated and perhaps voted on at legislative levels.”

Voter approval would be the final step in the process following a resolution approved by the Legislature in 2019 and again in 2021.

Question 2

Question 2 would replace existing constitutional language that sets a two-tiered minimum wage, which is $9.50 per hour if employers offer health benefits and $10.50 per hour if they do not. It would match Nevada’s minimum wage to the federal wage if it ever exceeds $12 per hour. The amendment would end tying incremental increases in the wage to inflation.

Proponents say the measure is needed to guarantee a wage of at least $12 per hour and to avoid penalizing workers who opt out of the employer’s health insurance program. Some employers are “offering garbage health care that their employees can’t afford,” Magnus said.

Tsarpalas said that setting a minimum wage has been shown to reduce jobs and hiring for workers with less training.

Fewer than 1 percent of workers in Nevada get paid at or below minimum wage, which is scheduled to increase to $12 an hour regardless in 2024 regardless of passage.

Voter approval of the ballot question would be the final step in the process.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
TOWN HALL: Assemblyman Hafen talks voter ID bill, solar energy, parking perks for veterans

Nevada Assemblyman Greg Hafen II (R-Pahrump) hosted his first Live Town Hall of the 2023 Legislative Session last month, discussing a wide variety of topics with his constituents, including solar farms, his proposed voter ID requirement, a veterans’ bill he is sponsoring and more.

Dishwasher saves choking diner at Pahrump Senior Center

Adrienne Fors says she was eating pork and rice when she literally bit off more than she could chew. “When I tried to swallow, it went down my throat and then then it got caught with the curve of my throat. Thank goodness Troy was there to do the Heimlich on me.”

Ruling: Former Nye County commissioner benefited from his vote to increase pandemic-relief funds

The Nevada State Ethics Commissions found earlier this week that former Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo had failed to disclose his financial interests ahead of a vote to increase pandemic-relief funds to local small business owners. He benefited about $35,000 from the deal, according to the finding of a state ethics panel.

Celebrate life at this popular butterfly release

The event is sponsored by Nathan Adelson Hospice and comforts those who are grieving the loss of a loved ones.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: Basin and Blagg intersection closure starts Monday

The construction currently underway on Basin Avenue has been focused on the intersection at Blagg Road for the last few weeks and Nye County Public Works will soon have that intersection back to full use but first, the department will need to close it to regular traffic, a fact which area motorists will want to take note.

SNEAK PEEK: Go inside ‘The Bagel Lady’s’ new Pahrump shop – PHOTOS

Shelly Fisher AKA “The Bagel Lady” is opening Shelly’s NY Bagels on March 25. Fisher has customized the corner suite at 1190 E. Highway 372 and will serve breakfast and lunch there. She tells the Pahrump Valley Times how the local community has helped grow her operation and gave our Faye Burdzinski and John Clausen an inside look at her new operation.

Pahrump fugitive arrested after months on the run

Anthony Bell evaded a SWAT-team standoff earlier this month. Footage shows the suspect brandished a rifle outside Pahrump casino following a fight in December.

LOVE FADING: See what’s become of the notorious Love Ranch brothel – PHOTOS

A year after the Love Ranch sold as part of a $1.3-million acquisition of 23 properties that included this Nye County brothel where NBA star Lamar Odom was famously found passed out from an apparent drug overdose, there’s been little effort to reopen or restore the iconic site. Photojournalist John Clausen went inside to “show us the Love.”