Vote Nevada Supporters,

I want to share background information on the two ballot questions we filed today with the Secretary of State’s office.  Below you will find a link to the Secretary of State’s Ballot Petitions website as well as the very detailed press release, which we put out for the news media.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sec. of State Ballot Petitions: https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/elections/2026-petitions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Refer to the link at the end for background information and essential details.

On September 9, 2025, Vote Nevada PAC exercised our state constitutional right to amend Nevada’s constitution through the ballot question process.  This right is under threat and must be protected and preserved. 

We refiled the independent redistricting commission ballot question as it was filed in 2020, 2022, and 2024.

Nevada’s redistricting process is plainly corrupt and must be put into alignment with Nevada’s transparency and accountability laws.

We are not proposing a nonpartisan redistricting commission; instead, we support a balanced commission with Democrats, Republicans, and non-major-party Nevadans.  Currently, while nonpartisan and third-party voters comprise just under 43% of registered voters, nonpartisan and third-party elected representatives comprise 0% of our legislature. 

The proposed commission, therefore, aligns with the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of representative government and provides a seat at the table for all Nevadans.

Our redistricting commission will be independent of our legislative redistricting process. This is key to our proposal.  Currently, our legislature exempts itself from Nevada’s Open Meeting Law and Public Records Act, which means it exempts itself from transparency and accountability. 

Consequently, legislators draw the people’s redistricting maps behind closed doors, blocking the public’s right to know who is enabling Nevada’s politicians to pick their voters.  This is an indefensible, corrupt process that must change.

If our legislators were interested in addressing this corruption, the legislative majority could have heard and passed AJR5 in the 2025 legislative session, yet the bill failed to receive even a hearing.  Assemblywoman Kasama’s bill proposed amending the Nevada Constitution to put redistricting under our Open Meeting Law and Public Records Act.

Our ballot question also limits redistricting to the 180 days following the release of the Census, so there will be no mid-cycle redistricting.  This obviously addresses the partisan nonsense in the news right now.

Our amendment transfers existing funding for redistricting from the legislative process to the independent redistricting commission, which is similar to Ballot Question 6 and Ballot Question 7 from 2024.  Neither of those ballot questions includes a taxing mechanism despite expending state funds due to the presumption that current state funding can be used to implement those two amendments.

This proposed amendment also utilizes the exact wording of Senate Joint Resolution 6 from the 2025 Nevada legislative session. As a legislative resolution, it was written by the Legislative Counsel Bureau, which comprises attorneys who write legislation; therefore, our ballot question meets all current legislative legal qualifications.

To further strengthen the rights of voters, we will also fill a second, related ballot question.

Second Ballot Question: Reduce Barriers to Primary Voting

Currently, we have segregated primary elections where members of the two major private political organizations exclude non-party members from participating in their closed, taxpayer-funded primaries.

We must ensure every eligible voter can make their voice heard in every taxpayer-funded election.   The two major private political parties do have a protected right of association, but they do not have a right to force taxpayers to pay for their internal nominating functions.

This problem is happening even though in 2020 Nevadans put a Voter Bill of Rights in our constitution, which states that all eligible voters have a right:

9. To equal access to the elections system without discrimination, including, without limitation, discrimination on the basis of race, age, disability, military service, employment or overseas residence.

https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/elections/voters/voters-bill-of-rights

To clarify this right, we are filing a second ballot question to add the right to equal participation in all taxpayer-funded elections regardless of political affiliation to our state constitution’s Voter Bill of Rights. 

12.   To fully participate in all publicly funded elections without limitation, including, but not limited to, any requirement to affiliate with any private organization, such as a political party.

Political parties can engage in privately funded nominating processes if they so desire.  For example, in 2024, the Nevada Republican Party ran a private caucus in the presidential preference primary, and the national Democratic Party hosted a private Zoom meeting to select Kamala Harris.

In closing: 

In 2024, both political parties advised voters not to support Ballot Question 3 because the BQ3 campaign had received outside funding.  They did this knowing it is almost impossible to pass a ballot question without millions of dollars, which is why their preferred ballot questions (6 & 7) also received outside funding.

Vote Nevada is comprised of Nevadans with no outside funders; we simply need the opportunity to speak to our fellow Nevadans to try to pass necessary democracy reforms.  If either of the political parties sues to stop us so they can maintain control of our democracy, the parties will win, and we will lose our right to fix what the parties have broken. 

History of Redistricting Reform in Nevada

 Thank you for being a Nevadan with me,

 Sondra

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