Vote Nevada Supporters,

The Open Primary with Ranked Choice Voting ballot question has now qualified for the November ballot.  Nevada Voters First needed to submit approximately 141,000 signatures to qualify, turned in 266,000 signatures, and the Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed that 171,941 of those signatures have been validated.

https://twitter.com/s_golonka/status/1550178925136949248?s=20&t=xb5u2E2auFyIpp1FFY60oQ

You can listen to an explanation of the ballot question here: https://vote-nevada.news/What-Is-Better-Voting-Nevada

You can listen to an explanation of the issues the ballot question addresses here: https://vote-nevada.news/Better-Voting-Nevada-Presentation 

Ballot Question One will amend the Nevada Constitution to add this language:

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.      

Vote Nevada is hosting a meeting on July 23^rd, 9-10:30 am, via Zoom, to review the Equal Rights Movement history.  We need to ensure that the effort to pass our ERA ballot question is inclusive and does not repeat mistakes from the past.  You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/ERA-Movement-History

Nevada Now is helping to organize support for the ERA Ballot Question and is hosting a virtual meeting this Sunday, July 24^th, at 4 pm, via Zoom, to start signing up volunteers.  You can find more information here: https://fb.me/e/2BZFUcBvE

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Vote Nevada: Solving Problems with Civics

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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.  We do, however, accept donations Here

Vote Nevada Supporters,

Reminder: Vote Nevada is hosting a Zoom meeting on July 23^rd, 9-10:30 am, on the History of the Equal Rights Movement & Mistakes to Avoid.  We have an Equal Rights Ballot Question on our November ballot to amend inclusive Equal Rights language into our Nevada Constitution. 

We will therefore need a robust and inclusive campaign to win at the ballot box.  You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/ERA-Movement-History

Now that the primary election is done we have some time to reflect on the problems voters encountered.

In a Nevada Independent article, reporter Jannelle Calderon discovered that on June 20^th, the last day mail-in ballots could be cured (which means corrected), between Washoe and Clark Counties, 4,541 ballots were uncured and so not counted. 

The Clark County Election Department maintains a list of uncured ballots on its website, so we can see the cause of each ballot’s error.  That file is full of ‘Signature did not match’ and ‘Voter did not sign,’ and in the notations, this is very common: “No phone number on file and no email address on file.” 

You can read:

The Indy article here: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/hundreds-of-nevada-voters-fixed-signature-issues-in-time-other-mail-ballots-tossed

The Voters with Open Signature Curing file here: https://www.clarkcountynv.gov/government/departments/elections/reports_data_maps/index.php

Two years ago when we moved to all mail-in voting due to the pandemic, the Secretary of State’s Office used federal CARES funds to create a website, record videos, and post on social media important information about mail-in voting.  This included instructions for logging into the voter registration portal to ensure all information was correct.

Voters were also encouraged to include or update a phone number and email address, which elections officials can use to contact voters when their ballot has errors.  This information can be kept private.

Well, we had a lot of new voters this election cycle who were not here for the voter education and outreach of 2020, so, 4,541 voters lost their right to vote and have their vote counted.  The legislature unfortunately did not provide similar funding for voter education in 2022.

We will therefore need to get the word out before the general election that voters should log into their online voter registration account to ensure valid contact information is on record in case a ballot needs to be cured.

Consequently, there is a flyer, in both jpeg and PDF format, along with a video demonstrating how to complete a mail-in ballot on this Vote Nevada Blog’s Mail-in Ballot page: https://vote-nevada.news/Mail-In-Voting

You will now also see on the Vote Nevada Blog a page with information anyone can use to contact me if they have civics-related questions: https://vote-nevada.news/Civics-Questions

Related to voting and elections, Governing Magazine had an interesting recent article about a movement to enlist community members to document local government meetings and actions. You can read it here: https://www.governing.com/now/when-the-press-is-the-public

The nonprofit organization driving this movement is looking for members of the public who are interested in being a paid “Documenter.”  If you already attend or virtually watch local governance meetings, you might want to read more about the Documenter project here: https://www.documenters.org/

Lastly, Save the Date!  Vote Nevada is partnering with Civil Talk for a nonprofit networking event.  Civil Talk is a new platform that allows nonprofits to safely connect to other nonprofit organizations and with volunteers.  The event is on August 7^th, 10 am to noon, via Zoom.  You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/Networking-With-Civil-Talk

 Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Please consider selecting Vote Nevada as your preferred nonprofit on Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_uspo_laas_aas

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Facebook fundraisers.

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.  We do, however, accept donations Here

Vote Nevada Supporters,

I hope you are spending time with family and friends and staying safe in the heat.

The 2022 primary is now certified, with one exception, the Republican governor race.  You can view the final numbers here: https://silverstateelection.nv.gov/

The recount of the Republican governor race is completed with Joe Lombardo losing 8 votes and Joey Gilbert losing 7 votes.  There may also be a legal challenge to the process, however.

The Better Voting Nevada ballot initiative to move to an open top-five primary with rank choice voting turned in approximately 266,000 signatures with about 141,000 needed to qualify.  The clerks and registrars verify the signatures gathered in each county, so, we are waiting for an announcement that a sufficient number of signatures have been submitted to qualify the question for the November ballot.  Additionally, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 to dismiss the legal challenge against the question.

If you are interested in a short explanation of the ballot question, here is a video explainer: https://vote-nevada.news/What-Is-Better-Voting-Nevada

If you are interested in a presentation on why we support Open Primaries with Ranked Choice Voting, you can watch this video: https://vote-nevada.news/Better-Voting-Nevada-Presentation 

On the Equal Rights Amendment ballot question, Vote Nevada is hosting a Zoom meeting on July 23^rd, 9-10:30 am, on the History of the Equal Rights Movement & Mistakes We Must Avoid.  You can RSVP here: https://vote-nevada.news/ERA-Movement-History

If you are interested in updates on CCSD, you can sign up for newsletter updates from the Las Vegas Alliance of Black School Educators here: https://lvabse.org/contact-us/

Voter registration numbers are out for the month of June, here: https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/Home/Components/News/News/3290/309?backlist=%2fsos

Doug Goodman’s analysis of the voter registration statistics is here: https://nevadansforelectionreform.org/competitive-primary-races-lead-to-slight-gop-voter-share-gain/

Lastly, Vote Nevada is sponsoring the July Shepherd’s Breakfast on July 27^th, 9 to 11 am, at the Wealthy Place Ministries at 902 West Owens Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89106.  The Breakfast is open to all and always very yummy!

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Please consider selecting Vote Nevada as your preferred nonprofit on Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_uspo_laas_aas

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Facebook fundraisers.

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.  We do, however, accept donations Here

Vote Nevada Supporters,

Yesterday was a day for the history books, whether the Supreme Court’s ruling will be the beginning of the end of liberty for many or the beginning of an expansion of rights for all is yet to be seen. 

Our political system allocates power to the people at both the federal and state levels to directly implement rights, so we do have options to explore before the next election.  Ultimately, if the Court refuses to recognize a right to privacy as an unenumerated right, we must add an explicit right to privacy to the U.S. Constitution.

It is not easy to amend our federal constitution, but Americans have done so twenty-seven times when we needed a definitive resolution.  It will be a heavy lift, so we need to start the dialogue soon.

The Dobb’s ruling shifted decision-making control over abortion access to the states; so, Nevada is protected because a group of dedicated Nevadans put our abortion laws out for a referendum vote and won.  This means our abortion law cannot be changed without another vote of the people.  Nevadans protected our rights through a direct democracy process.

We have another direct democracy process available in this election cycle.  In November, we will have the opportunity to vote on an equal rights amendment to our state constitution.  Unlike the federal ERA, this ballot question is more expansive in delineating who is guaranteed equal rights.

Equality  of  rights  under  the  law  shall  not  be denied  or  abridged  by  this  State  or  any  of  its  political subdivisions  on  account  of  race,  color,  creed,  sex,  sexual orientation, gender  identity  or  expression,  age,  disability, ancestry or national origin. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7336/Text

If adopted, this initiative will provide further protection for reproductive rights in Nevada.  If you are interested in helping to ensure this state Equal Rights Amendment passes, please contact Jeri Burton of the Nevada National Organization of Women here: https://www.nevadanow.org/contact-us

Vote Nevada is joining this effort starting with our July meeting on the 23^rd, 9-10:30 am, via Zoom.  We will focus on the history of the Equal Rights Movement & Avoiding Past Mistakes.  You can RSVP at https://vote-nevada.news/ERA-Movement-History

On July 14th, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Jeana Blackman is partnering with Vote Nevada to host a house party discussion about the state of voting in Nevada.  We’ve invited Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Mark Wlaschin to review lessons learned from our primary that can improve the general election experience.  You can RSVP here: https://fb.me/e/4Orm81h8o 

Lastly, a big Whoo Hoo for Dr. Sara Hunt who convinced the Rural Regional Behavioral Health Policy Board to adopt the Nebraska model for mental and behavioral health workforce development as their Bill Draft Request (BDR) for the 2023 legislative session! 

Sara is a valued member of our Vote Nevada Mental and Behavioral Health Committee and we have supported her efforts to adopt the Nebraska model in Nevada for many years.  You can read more about the Nebraska model, which is strongly grounded in mentoring, about halfway down this blog page: https://vote-nevada-blog.org/mental-and-behavioral-health/

Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Please consider selecting Vote Nevada as your preferred nonprofit on Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_uspo_laas_aas

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Facebook fundraisers.

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.  We do, however, accept donations Here

Vote Nevada Supporters,

The final primary election results will be certified this Friday, June 24^th.  You can view the state-wide and county-specific results so far here: https://silverstateelection.nv.gov/

Our joint event with Nevada NOW to view Still Working 9to5 and then discuss equity in the workplace and Nevada’s Equal Rights Ballot Question, with Lilly Ledbetter and Zoey Nicholson (both will join us via Zoom), is this Wednesday, June 22^nd, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm.  

We will be at the CSN North Las Vegas Campus in Building A Room 1772.

Here is a campus map: https://www.csn.edu/about-us/campus-locations/nlv-campus

We aren’t able to stream the documentary through Zoom due to copyright issues, but we are offering a hybrid Zoom option for the discussion after the viewing.  If you’d like to join us, please RSVP here for the Zoom link: https://vote-nevada.news/Still-Working-9to5

In July, Vote Nevada is putting together a Civics Guide for Nevada Voters as well as an Ethics Scorecard to use in the upcoming general election.  Too many of our election and governing processes are overly complicated and not transparent, which leaves voters feeling frustrated. 

Because of this, I often receive questions from the public asking for clarification.  The Civics Guide for Nevada Voters will address the most frequently asked questions.  And the Ethics Scorecard will help voters evaluate the record of incumbents and the truthfulness of campaign materials from all candidates.

We would also like to reach out to candidates who had good ideas, but who did not make it through the primary.  There may be opportunities for advocacy related to those good ideas and we definitely want to encourage these candidates to run again in two years.  If you have particular candidates you would like us to reach out to, please send us their names through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/G3yeUE3aXDXsiUqt7

 Thank you for being Nevadans with me,

Sondra

Please consider selecting Vote Nevada as your preferred nonprofit on Amazon Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_uspo_laas_aas

Vote Nevada is now qualified to receive donations through Facebook fundraisers.

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.  We do, however, accept donations Here