Vote Nevada supporters,

While all the ballots have yet to be cured and counted, Vote Nevada is planning for the upcoming legislative session, which starts February 3, 2025.

The next important legislative event is December 2, when the Economic Forum meets to forecast the upcoming biennial tax revenue.

This is the dollar amount the Governor’s budget cannot surpass unless he plans to raise taxes. The Economic Forum’s report will also provide a fiscal snapshot with possible warnings of any economic weaknesses.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/InterimCommittee/REL/Interim2023/Meeting/34551 

While the Democratic Party failed to gain a legislative supermajority, it will be in the majority in both legislative houses, so all committee chairs will be Democrats. However, the Governor will hold veto power over bills arriving at his desk, so the Republicans will work through him to advance their priorities. 

We will encourage bipartisan collaboration to get things done instead of the parties engaging in political games. 

Affordable housing and childcare, which have state and local implications, were important issues highlighted in this last election cycle. Vote Nevada will be working on both issues during this legislative session, especially affordable childcare.

Additionally, we are launching the Shirley Chisholm Democracy Project. Through this initiative, we will enhance public civics education and civic engagement opportunities, combat incivility, pass open primaries, and continue to learn from Shirley Chisholm’s life.

Through the Shirley Chisholm Democracy Project, we will reach out to eligible Nevadans who do not vote. There are many reasons why someone decides not to vote, but if we listen to these community members and address their concerns, hopefully, more will turn out and vote in 2026.  

We will also help voters new to Nevada’s election processes through public education that answers their civics questions, and civic engagement opportunities that show how voting translates into laws and beneficial actions by elected local leaders.  Our goal is to connect elections and community improvements in voters’ minds.

We all feel exhausted from the incessant negative campaigning and the struggle to discern honest information from political spin.  Civil dialogue, collaboration, and even compromise are all strategies we can adopt to change political communication by decreasing dishonesty and negativity.  We will do this under a “Let’s be Civil & Honest” Democracy Project goal.

Lastly, we will ask legislators to adopt a bill from the 2021 legislative session that would have created a top-two open primary for partisan races and to submit it as a bill in the 2025 legislative session.   https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7459/Overview

This will give everyone who said they would support an open primary the opportunity to advocate for its passage, and it invites nonpartisan voters to participate in a more inclusive election system.

Please let me know if you would like to work on any of these goals because we need to start as soon as possible.

My analysis of what happened with Ballot Question 3 will come in a separate email/blog post.

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Smith’s Inspiring Donations; you can read more about how to donate to Vote Nevada each time you use your Smith’s loyalty card here:  https://www.smithsfoodanddrug.com/i/community/smiths-inspiring-donations

Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization.  Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org; we have no membership dues. You can now donate to Vote Nevada through PayPal at  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L423L7FBMMBEA