A bill that would allow major political parties to hold a presidential-preference primary election on the last Tuesday of February passed the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee on Thursday — a day after the same committee voted against the measure. The committee voted in favor of the SB421 by a 6-4 margin Thursday on its second and final try. The bill now probably goes to the Assembly floor, although an undetermined fiscal note is now attached to the bill. The bill was amended by the Assembly committee so that only the presidential-preference primary would be held in February. The bill that was approved by the state Senate would have moved all state and local primaries to February to be held in conjunction with the presidential primary. Under the Senate version, the state and local primary elections would have also moved to February so the presidential-preference primary would not cost taxpayers extra money.
Yet some were critical of the idea of moving all the primaries to February since it would cause an eight-month gap between the primary and general elections and force candidates into year-round campaigns.
The amended bill would require the state to pay for the presidential primary, although the cost has yet to be determined. The money for the presidential primary would come for the state’s statutory reserve for contingencies account, according to the Legislative Counsel Bureau.
Major political parties can opt out of the Nevada presidential primary although the decision to opt out would be made by the national party and not state party.
Full Article: Presidential primary bill passes on 2nd try.