Month: November 2018

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State-Wide Poll Shows Nevada Voters Want a Better System and Ranked Choice Voting

By Doug Goodman -Founder & Executive Director Nevadans for Election Reform and Scott Siebel and Katie Dahl – FairVote

The time is ripe for political reform in Nevada, with voters eager for more fair and democratic elections.

According to a recent statewide poll sponsored by Nevadans for Election Reform and FairVote, issue-focused elections, higher voter turnout and majority winners topped the list of reforms for Nevada voters. Voters also believe the ability to rank candidates; 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, is a good idea.

Highlights from the poll include:

  • 94 percent of survey takers said replacing negative attacks with issue-focused campaigning was “somewhat” or “very” important, including majorities from both Republican and Democratic voters;
  • 80 percent said increasing voter turnout was “very” or “somewhat” important;
  • 79 percent said majority winners (candidates earning over 50 percent of votes) were “very” or “somewhat” important; and
  • 58 percent said they were “very” or “somewhat” likely to support a reform that would end the “lesser of two evils” dynamic at play in single-choice voting systems.
  • 56 percent said ranked choice voting is a “very good” or “somewhat good” system.

All of these values are linked to a ranked choice voting system, suggesting that with increased public awareness – as well as increasing use in cities and as of Nov. 6, 2018, the entire state of Maine – an overwhelming majority of voters will recognize ranked ballots as the best way to see their values realized in elections.

Nevadans for Election Reform will continue our on-the-ground efforts to educate voters and collaborating with our national partners at FairVote to bring Nevada to the forefront of fair and democratic elections.

 

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Non-Partisan Voters Carry the Election for Democratic Candidates

By Doug Goodman -Founder & Executive Director Nevadans for Election Reform

Over 900,000 Nevadans cast ballots during the general election of 2018; 62 percent of active registered voters. While the Democratic Party is claiming their voter outreach efforts led to victory and the Republican Party is trying to figure out what went wrong; some party leaders are going as far as to claim voter fraud, the outcome of the election, either margin of victory or determining which candidate won, clearly was dependent on the votes of the Non-Partisan voter.

There’s no question that Democratic voters learned their lesson from 2014 when state-wide turnout was only 45.5 percent and the Republican party won all state constitutional offices along with control of both houses of the state legislature. This time, Democratic candidates won all but one constitutional office and the party extended its majority earned in 2016 in both chambers of the legislature; a veto-proof majority in the assembly

Turnout is a major factor in the outcome of any election. However, with both the Democratic and Republican Party each holding less than 40 percent share of active voters (38.32 and 33.52 percent respectively) it is the 28.15 percent (21.91 percent Non-Partisan and 6.24 percent minor party), not registered to either major party that determined the outcome of many races. This is important not only because both the Democratic and Republican Party, with very minor exception, lose voter share each month while Non-Partisan voter share increases but also because voters passed Automatic Voter Registration (AVR). Because voters are automatically registered as Non-Partisan unless they specify a political party, the percentage of Non-Partisan voters will most likely increase, perhaps significantly.

In 16 races, Non-Partisan voters clearly determined the winner

Position Winner Difference in Party Registration Percent Non-Partisan Margin of Victory Percent vote over Party Registration
Secretary of State R D +4.8% 21.9% 0.65% R: 15.4%

D: 10%
Treasurer: D D +4.8% 21.9% 0.64% D: 9.3%

R: 13.4%
Attorney General: D D +4.8% 21.9% 0.48% D: 8.9%

R: 13.2%

 

Position Winner Difference in Party Registration Percent Non-Partisan Margin of Victory Percent vote over Party Registration
Congressional District 3 D D +1.6% 22.8% 9.01% D: 15.4%

R: 8%
State Senate District 8 D D +1%  21.9% 3.18% D: 15.9%

R: 12.7%
State Senate District 20 R R +0.58% 22.4% 3.18% D: 15.9%

R: 12.7%
State Assembly District 2: R R +4.47% 22% 3.84% R: 13.5%

D: 14.1%
State Assembly District 4: D R +0.07% 21.5% 0.38% D: 12.8%

R: 12.4%
State Assembly District 12: D D +13.84% 22.2% 10.93% D: 10.8%

R: 13.7%
State Assembly District 31: D R +5.79% 19.7% 3.8% D 18.1%

R: 8.5%
State Assembly District 37 D D +0.6% 20.4% 0.42% D: 12.9%

R: 13.1%

In Washoe County, all partisan county-wide races were determined by Non-Partisan. In the county, the Republican Party holds a 1.93 percent advantage over the Democratic Party (37.05% to 35.12%) Non-Partisan has 20.96% voter share, minor parties 6.87 (27.83 percent not affiliated with either major party. Important to note that even though Washoe County voted more Democratic, for county-wide offices, Non-Partisans went more for Republican incumbents

Position Winner Difference in Party Registration Percent Non-Partisan Margin of Victory Percent vote over Party Registration
Assessor: R R +1.93% 21% 0.30% R: 13.1%

D: 14.7%
Public Administrator: R R +1.93% 21% 5.7% R: 15.8%

D: 12%
Recorder: D R +1.93% 21% 4.06% D: 16.9%

R: 10.9%
Treasurer: R R +1.93% 21% 5.6% R: 15.7%

D: 12%
Clerk: R R +1.93% 21% 10.7% R: 18.3%

D: 9.5%

In most other races, the Non-Partisan vote did not materially impact the outcome of the race. In those races, the Non-Partisan vote either slightly decreased the margin of victory but well within the winning party registration advantage or increased the margin of victory.

What made Non-Partisans favor the Democratic candidates this election? Was their vote a vote against President Trump? Did the Democratic Party do a better job of addressing the issues that they consider important? Was it a reaction to the lack of specifics in the campaigns? It could be these or other things. The one thing I believe is certain, the Democratic Party can not assume Non-Partisan voters will always be in their corner.

 

 

 

 

 

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