NEMRA Becomes SB 499

On Monday, March 23, 2015 a version of the Nevada Election Modernization and Reform Act was formally introduced as a bill for the 2015 session of the Nevada Legislature.
SB 499, as it is now formally known, was introduced by the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections. The version to be considered, sadly, does not include the ranked choice / instant runoff voting component because of concerns of conflict with Article 15, Sec 14 of the Nevada Constitution which declares a plurality winner. 
However, the bill does improve the chances for minor party or independent candidates to advance to the general election. Under the top-two format in SB 499, two candidates from the same party cannot advance. This eliminates the possibility of two Democratic or two Republicans facing off in the general election. Minor party and independent candidates are relevant and viable candidates in the primary. Debate is not limited to two sides of the same story.

The next step is a committee hearing. I’ll keep you posted. 

Does The Media Purposely Fan The Flames Of Political Divisiveness?

The days of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Chronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank McGee, Eric Sevareid, and Nancy Dickerson are gone. Reporting the facts has been replaced with commentary, meant to evoke emotion, entertain, and “sell”.  We pay attention only to those whose commentary support our already cemented opinions and rally to the heightened emotion and rush to “buy”.
Does The Media Purposely Fan The Flames Of Political Divisiveness?  Anne Kim, editor and co-founder of Republic 3.0 and The Hill contributor provides the answer in her March 12, 2015 The Hill column “When the political press becomes the polarizer”.
“All of this is why political journalism might be fanning the flames of the polarization that it both decries and eagerly covers. And in fact, centrists and political moderates are among the first victims of today’s politics-as-reality-show political coverage.  For one thing, the bias toward conflict-focused coverage creates a reality distortion field where the context for any proposal becomes a pitched battle between two opposing forces. Differences in opinion are magnified into “rifts,” and disagreements morph into “feuds.” And moderates — who are inherently inclined to compromise — are almost inevitably cast as the villains.”
In her article, Kim notes research by University of Pennsylvania political scientist Matthew Levendusky further showing how partisan media may reinforce these divisions. “Through a variety of experiments aimed at measuring partisan media’s impacts, Levendusky found that exposure to polarizing media can make people “a little more extreme, a little less positive toward the other side, more unwilling to compromise, and more willing to ascribe negative traits to the leaders of the other party.” A final consequence of current trends in political journalism is ironic, given the immense resources given over to political coverage: Americans may end up even less informed than ever about the policy choices the nation must make. And so long as serious policy efforts have little chance of winning equally serious coverage from the press, politicians have even less reason to offer solutions that make sense.”

 

Don’t believe the reality TV analogy? Check out my September 12, 2014 posting “New Reality TV Show Based On Congressional Gridlock” highlighting the reality TV show Rival Survival.  In my opinion, we have become a society that wants to be entertained rather than informed and at times confuse what we hear when being entertained with fact.

 

This is also a major part of the problem. The media, whether online, broadcast, or print, is in the business of making money. Therefore, they provide a product that is in demand. If the demand was for facts and unbiased reporting of all sides of an issue that is what would be provided. Herein lays the solution.

 

By allowing all voters, regardless of party registration or registration as Non-Partisan to vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation or status as a Non-Partisan in the primary election, the Nevada Election Modernization and Reform Act (NEMRA) could bring the discussion of issues back towards the majority of voters who want policy makers to collaborate and compromise rather than remain ideologically pure to find and implement solutions. This in turn potentially raises the demand for unbiased information. Enough to change the media demand? Only implementation of NEMRA and time will provide the answer.  

Non-Partisan and Minor Parties Still Lead Voter Registration Growth

The Nevada Secretary of State’s office has released voter registrationstatistics for February, 2015 and voters continue to favor registration as Non-Partisan or in one of the minor parties over the Democratic or Republican Party.
The need for a change to Nevada’s election statute to address this continuous growing trend is once again justified.
Jan 2015
Feb 2015
Diff
%
State
Rep
424,791
425,484
693
+0.16
Dem
488,705
489,473
768
+0.16
N/P
238,812
240,098
1,286
+0.54
Other
79,350
79,611
261
+0.33
Clark
Rep
257,221
257,881
660
+0.26
Dem
366,464
367,249
785
+0.21
N/P
169,375
170,340
965
+0.57
Other
50,599
50,813
214
+0.42
Washoe
Rep
85,190
85,457
267
+0.31
Dem
78,853
78,991
138
+0.18
N/P
41,769
42,123
354
+0.85
Other
16,395
16,499
104
+0.63
18 – 34
Rep
73,859
74,005
146
+0.20
Dem
112,866
112,916
50
+0.04
N/P
86,052
86,451
399
+0.46
Other
24,586
24,588
2
+0.008
Total not R or D
State
25.8
25.9
+0.1
Clark
26.1
26.1
+0.0
Washoe
26.2
25.2
-1.0
18 – 34
37.2
37.3
+0.1