Nevada: Republican Assemblyman criticized for remarks about minority, young voters | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, R-Reno, has come under fire this week, including from Sen. Dean Heller, for making comments that may have been factually correct but are unwise in today’s political world. During a Tuesday appearance on a Reno radio talk show, Hickey said Republicans in Nevada may pick up seats in next year’s election because many minorities and young people don’t vote in non-presidential elections. “Probably where we had a million voters turn out in 2012, we’ll have like 700,000,” Hickey told radio station KOH. “A lot of minorities and a lot of younger people will not turn out in a non-presidential (year). It’s a great year for Republicans.” Democrats have a 97,000 voter registration advantage over Republicans and control the state Senate, 11-10, and Assembly, 27-15. Heller, R-Nev., in a statement Thursday called the assemblyman’s comments “divisive, insensitive, and run counter to the basic duties and honor of public service. Assemblyman Hickey should know that it is a privilege to represent Nevada’s many cultures and ethnicities.”

Nevada: Nevada’s Top Court Upholds Republican Nomination Process for Senate Seat | Bloomberg

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld a ruling allowing state Republicans to nominate one candidate to represent the party in a special election to fill the House of Representatives seat vacated by U.S. Senator Dean Heller.

In May, a lower court judge ruled in favor of the Nevada Republican Party and barred Secretary of State Ross Miller, a Democrat, from declaring a “free-for-all” election in which candidates could nominate themselves. The Supreme Court agreed and ruled in a 6-1 decision that although the state law is “ambiguous” deferring to Miller was not appropriate in this case.

Nevada: Justices allow one candidate per party in special election | ReviewJournal.com

The Nevada Supreme Court has determined the two major political parties can choose one candidate each to run for the state’s open Congressional District 2 seat, putting an end to Secretary of State Ross Miller’s vision of a “ballot royale.”

There will be only eight candidates — not 30 — on the ballot when U.S. Sen. Dean Heller’s replacement is chosen in a special election Sept. 13. Republican Mark Amodei and Democrat State Treasurer Kate Marshall will top the ballot along with candidates from the Independent American and Libertarian parties and four independents. The decision is important more for political reasons than legal concerns.

Nevada: Supreme Court Set To Weigh In On Special Election In 2nd Congressional District | Nevada News Bureau

Attorneys for the state Democrat and Republican parties argued their cases Tuesday before the Nevada Supreme Court over whether they should pick their candidates for the special election to fill the vacant 2nd Congressional District seat, or whether it should be a “ballot royale.”

The Democrat Party and Secretary of State Ross Miller, himself a Democrat, are asking the court to rule by July 6 that any and all comers should be able to file to fill the vacancy left with the appointment of former Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to the U.S. Senate.

Attorneys for the Republicans say Miller exceeded his authority in making the election a free-for-all, and that the parties should select the single candidate to represent them in a special election that has been set for Sept. 13, although it is possible this date might have to be changed.

Nevada: Who rules Nevada’s elections? Court to decide. | Las Vegas Sun

Seems there’s nothing like a deadline, or perhaps a U.S. House vacancy, to focus the mind. That mantra apparently applied to both the Legislature — which passed a bare bones special election law eight years ago — and the secretary of state’s office, which never got around to writing regulations governing how a special election should be conducted.

Now that Nevada is facing its first U.S. House vacancy, the state Supreme Court will decide how the next representative from the 2nd Congressional District will be chosen. It’s a political process that most justices appeared uncomfortable wading into, based on questions they asked during oral arguments Tuesday on the case that will decide the matter.

“Why shouldn’t we let the secretary of state make this decision?” Justice Mark Gibbons said. “Otherwise we’re going to have judges running elections, and that may not be a good idea.”

Nevada: High court hears arguments on special election for House seat | ReviewJournal.com

Several Nevada Supreme Court justices suggested Tuesday that perhaps they should defer to Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller to set the rules for a special election for Congress.

“Why shouldn’t we go along with the secretary of state?” asked Justice Kris Pickering during oral arguments that lasted less than one hour.

Justice James Hardesty said that when there are no clear regulations on election matters, the court should defer to the administrative decision. But he seemed to take positions on both sides of the matter Tuesday.

Nevada: Registrar says one-day vote would be cheaper than all-mail special election | ReviewJournal.com

It would be more expensive to conduct an all-mail election in Clark County for the 2nd Congressional District seat than holding a one-day election at polling places, county Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said Tuesday.

Lomax said he informed Secretary of State Ross Miller that a mail-in election on Sept. 13 to fill the seat formerly held by Dean Heller would cost $75,000, compared to $33,000 for an election at 12 polling places with three workers at each place.

The reason is the U.S. Postal Service would require that all ballots be sent out and returned by first-class mail. There also would be printing costs for the ballots. “It would definitely be more expensive to do mail,” he said. “Until the Postal Service lets us use third-class mail, it is always going to be more expensive to do mail elections.”

Nevada: Special election court hearing set in Nevada | ReviewJournal.com

The Nevada Supreme Court on June 28 will hear oral arguments on whether the special election to fill Dean Heller’s seat in Congress will be a free-for-all or be limited to candidates chosen by party central committees.

The court announced Wednesday that it has scheduled an hourlong hearing in the case of the Nevada Republican Party versus the Nevada Democratic Party. Each side will have 30 minutes to make its case. Thirty people already have signed up for the tentative Sept. 13 election for the 2nd Congressional District.

Nevada: Las Vegas Mayoral Candidate Sees Own Vote Flipped to Opponent on Touch-screen Voting Machine | The Brad Blog

It took two tries, but Carolyn Goodman, candidate for Mayor of Las Vegas, and wife of current Mayor Oscar Goodman, was finally able to vote for herselftoday on Nevada’s illegally-certified, 100% unverifiable Sequoia AVC Edge touch-screen voting machines. At least she thinks she did. Whether her vote will actually be counted for her is something that nobody can ever know.

…  As we revealed in our investigative exposé in the 2008 book Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008, and summarized in our article on the Reid/Angle election for U.S. Senator just before Election Day last year, Nevada’s Sequoia touch-screen voting machines were illegally certified in 2004 by then NV Secretary of State, now NV’s recently-appointed (to take the place of disgraced Sen. John Ensign) Republican U.S. Senator Dean Heller.

Nevada: GOP urges state Nevada Supreme Court to not change date of congressional special election | AP/The Republic

Delaying the date of a special election to fill a House vacancy could further taint a political process already clouded in confusion, lawyers for the Nevada Republican Party argued Monday in a court brief.

The GOP said it does not oppose rescheduling the Sept. 13 election so that the Nevada Supreme Court has more time to decide the rules of Nevada’s first special election to fill a House seat. State law, however, does not seem to allow for a date change, the lawyers claim.

Nevada: Attorney General, Democrats argue special election should be wide-open affair | Las Vegas Sun

The secretary of state, as the resident expert on Nevada elections, should have the final word on the format for the race to fill the 2nd Congressional District seat, the attorney general and state Democratic Party argued in briefs filed with the Nevada Supreme Court.

The parties are asking the court to overturn a decision by District Judge Todd Russell in Carson City, who held that the central committees of the two major parties should nominate candidates for the Sept. 13 election. The secretary of state had opted for a wide-open special election.

The Supreme Court has requested the Sept. 13 election be delayed to give it more time to consider the issue.

Nevada: Court Suggests Delay For Nevada House Election | Eyewitness News 9

Nevada’s first special election to fill a House seat could be delayed because of a legal tussle over the contest rules.

The Nevada Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday directing the Nevada Democratic Party, the Nevada Republican Party and Secretary of State Ross Miller to address whether the September special election can be rescheduled. The political parties and Miller disagree on the rules of the contest to fill the seat left vacant when Republican Dean Heller was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Nevada: Nevada Supreme Court to hear appeal on special election | ReviewJournal.com

The Nevada Supreme Court indicated Tuesday that it needs more time to rule on a key election procedure than a planned Sept. 13 election date would allow.

As a result, Nevadans in the district — which encompasses all of Nevada with the exception of urbanized areas of Clark County — might not get to vote on Heller’s replacement until October or even November. The replacement would fill out the last year of Heller’s unexpired term, thereby getting a leg up on the competition in the 2012 election.

Editorials: Jon Ralston: If only Heller had done his job as secretary of state, we wouldn’t have mess to replace him as U.S. representative | Reno Gazette-Journal

If only Secretary of State Dean Heller had written regulations for a House special election, we wouldn’t have such controversy over filling U.S. Sen. Dean Heller’s seat.

But the Republican did not, as a 2003 law instructed, write any rules, so now we have chaos, thanks to a Carson City judge’s stunning decision last week that overturned the guidelines proposed by Heller’s Democratic successor, Ross Miller. And reading through the 97-page transcript of Judge Todd Russell’s decision reveals a jurist who seemed immediately predisposed to the GOP argument that party central committees should nominate and hostile to the Democratic Party claim that it should be, as Miller calls it, a “ballot royale.”

Nevada: Contradictory ruling in Nevada | Las Vegas Sun

Republican Rep. Dean Heller’s appointment to the U.S. Senate this month created a novel situation — Nevada has never had to replace a member of the House of Representatives in the middle of a term. As a result, a controversy quickly developed over how to replace Heller because Nevada law doesn’t specifically state how a…