November 2021

By Doug Goodman -Founder & Executive Director Nevadans for Election Reform – November 4, 2021

Rank Choice Voting (RCV) is good for business and community economic development.

Business thrives when owners can plan in advance for growth, or downturn. Lack of planning can cause disruption, loss of sales, and even the loss of the business itself. Our current political climate of hyper-partisanship does not allow business to plan as owners have no idea what regulations, taxes, or other events will be in place from one day to the next. As stated in the Harvard Business Review, the current political environment is the biggest impediment to economic growth in the nation. A follow-up report also states that if politics were a business, it would be failing.

If a business is fortunate enough to be able to grow, owners are looking to expand. This expansion often has the business looking to expand to other states where policies are business-friendly, and their employees can enjoy the best quality of life. In Nevada, both the LVGEA (Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance) and EDAWN (Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada) function with the purpose of attracting businesses to locate in the state.

In 2014 I posed the following question to the executive director of both organizations. Would the existence of a less toxic political environment be considered a plus? Given an overwhelming majority of Americans want their elected officials to solve the issues they face, collaborate on solutions (the word compromise is usually used but I prefer the word collaborate because there is a difference), and not refuse to even talk to one another, would a location whose political process fostered such action be preferred? Both answered “very possibly”.

Is RCV good for business? RCV:

Allows elected officials to work together without the fear of being “primaried”
Reduces attack ads due to the need for second or third choice votes
Allows voters to vote their conscience without fear that they are wasting their vote and that their vote counts
Expands opportunity for candidates from marginalized and / or under-represented populations
Because it fosters collaboration, allows businesses to plan with more certainty.
Provides employees, as voters, a sense that they are the focus of their elected officials, not a necessary inconvenience.

The economic impacts of RCV are not normally part of the conversation. Maybe they should be.

By Doug Goodman -Founder & Executive Director Nevadans for Election Reform – November 2, 2021

Before the end of this month, the governor will call the Nevada legislature into special session to draw and approve new Congressional and state legislative districts. The looming question is how will lawmakers factor in the largest share of voters, those not registered in either the Democratic or Republican Party. Party affiliation of voters is not a formal requirement and the legality of considering the party affiliation when drawing district lines has questioned. The United States Supreme Court has left that decision to the states.

October voter registration continued to see the decline of the major party and a continued surge in the number of Non-Partisan and minor party voters. The only demographic where the voter share of non-major party voters is less than 30 percent is among voters 55 years of age and older.

To provide a better look at the challenge being faced by the legislature, a by-district voter share analysis is included below.

State-Wide

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	1,979	0.32%	34.27%	-0.20%
R	1,514	0.28%	30.10%	-0.19%
NP	9,757	2.02%	27.01%	0.30%
IAP	694	0.86%	4.49%	0.00%
LIB	113	0.66%	0.95%	0.00%
Other	2,129	3.82%	3.17%	0.09%
Total not D or R			35.62%	0.39%