MINUTES OF MEETING

      ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND PROCEDURES

 

      Sixty-seventh Session

      June 22, 1993

 

 

 

The Assembly Committee on Elections and Procedures was called to order by Chairman Myrna T. Williams at 3:40 p.m., Tuesday, June 22, 1993, in Room 331 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Meeting Agenda, Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

      Mrs. Myrna T. Williams, Chairman

      Mr. Robert E. Price, Vice Chairman

      Mr. Joseph E. Dini, Jr.

      Mrs. Jan Evans

      Mr. Val Z. Garner

      Mr. David E. Humke

      Mrs. Joan A. Lambert

      Mr. William A. Petrak

      Mr. Gene T. Porter

      Mr. Robert M. Sader

      Mr. Scott Scherer

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

      None

 

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

 

      None

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

      Mr. Robert Erickson/Research Director, Legislative Counsel Bureau

     

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

      Secretary of State Cheryl Lau

      Chief Deputy Dale Erquiaga, office of Secretary of State

      Ms. Jan Hunt/United We Stand America

      Ms. Marlene Henderson/Registrar of Voters, Washoe County

      Ms. Janine Hansen/Nevada Eagle Forum

      Mr. James Dan/Northern Regional Representative, Libertarian Party of Nevada

      Ms. Jan Gilbert/League of Women Voters of Nevada

 

 

 

SB 250:     Makes various changes to provisions governing elections.

 

Secretary of State Cheryl Lau introduced Mr. Dale Erquiaga, Chief Deputy, Secretary of State's office, and gave the genesis of SB 250.  She stressed the need for the SB 250 changes and stated she had held meetings with county election officials and members of both houses and also town hall meetings.  She discussed conflict with AB 145, and further stated she and Chairman Williams were working on the amendments for committee review.  SB 250 reflected their concerns for more open and fraud-free elections, she declared. 

 

Mr. Dale Erquiaga called to committee's attention that certain sections had been deleted by amendment.  Those sections dealt with petition requirements, and they were taken out by the Senate committee on government affairs and placed into Senate Bill 552 as opposed to Assembly Bill 552 which dealt with recall.  He reiterated Senate bill 552 would address the petition requirements.

 

Next, Mr. Erquiaga recapped each section of SB 250 and resolved questions from the committee regarding amendments with assistance from Secretary of State Lau and Chairman Williams.

 

Mr. Porter expressed concern regarding mail-in registrations which used an address not identifiable as a post office box.  Discussion ensued between Mr. Porter, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Petrak, Mr. Humke and Mr. Erquiaga regarding address registration.  Mrs. Williams asked Mr. Porter to assist with language which would address the problem, and Secretary of State Lau said an amendment would be done.

 

Ms. Jan Hunt, representing United We Stand America, testified in favor of SB 250 which she thought was an excellent bill.  Ms. Hunt asked for the actual name of the candidate to appear on the ballot and not have a prepunched ballot.  She also requested a three-man team to check voter registration, one of which should be adept at debugging software to assure the computer had no virus.  Ms. Hunt also informed the committee 15,000 absentee ballots were requested from people who worked in casinos.  The people filled out the absentee ballots and gave them to the union's bosses to take in for them.  She requested committee address recount of a close election since the ballots were not there for the recount and the ballot recount was done by machine.  In the event something was wrong with the software, the recount would not help.  She asked that ballots be maintained under supervised conditions which, she said, was addressed in SB 250 as 22 months.  However, the public did not have access.  If ballots were numbered, an audit trail would exist for every ballot requested.

 

Ms. Hunt said Nevada had voter registrations for 95,000 citizens who were neither Democrats nor Republicans and who had other party affiliation.  The 95,000 citizens were not allowed to vote in the primary which was disenfranchising 95,000 Nevada voters, and Ms. Hunt felt the 95,000 citizens should also be allowed to vote in the primary.

 

Ms. Hunt referenced petitions which would be covered in another bill and had been deleted from SB 250.  Her concern was no definition existed as to a general election.  Mrs. Williams requested her comments be limited to SB 250.

 

Mr. Price reflected Ms. Hunt was suggesting the use of paper type ballots used before computer ballots.  Mr. Price then asked Ms. Hunt her logic for requesting an open primary.  Responding to Mr. Price's question, Ms. Hunt communicated twenty million people in the United States had decided they did not want to be one party or the other party, and, in the democratic process, very few people voted the straight party line.  Especially in the state of Nevada, people voted for the person in the general election and in the primary.  At present, in the primary a voter could only vote for a Democrat if the voter was a Democrat, and a voter could only vote for a Republican if the voter was a Republican.  If a voter was anything else, he/she could not vote for anyone.

 

Mr. Petrak pointed out people could vote on the issues, and if the people had a candidate, they could vote. 

 

Mr. Price discussed a number of states did not have primaries in the manner of Nevada where citizens voted for the Democratic or Republican candidate.  Those decisions would be made at each party's state convention where it would be decided among themselves who would be the Assembly District 17 democratic candidate, for example.  That system would not prohibit any other person living in Assembly District 17 from running for office in the primary, but it would prohibit another person from using the word Democrat to the extent it would appear the individual was the democratic candidate.  Mr. Price felt it would be improper to have a say-so about who the leaders of United We Stand would be unless the person wanted to join the organization and be a part of it.

 

Discussion continued between Ms. Hunt and Mr. Price regarding open primaries.  Ms. Hunt felt a voter should have the right to vote for a Democrat, a Republican or a Libertarian, and Mr. Price disagreed.

 

Ms. Marlene Henderson, Registrar of Voters, Washoe County, testified she supported the majority of SB 250.  A few sections of the bill would be costly to the county such as printing of names of all registered voters in the newspaper.  The cost of printing tax roles in Washoe County was $45,000, she added.  She discussed Section 52, Section 62 and Section 74.  Mr. Erquiaga clarified the sections at the request of Mrs. Williams and stated the ballot processing and packaging board was a separate board appointed by the clerk or registrar, and the person on that board must be qualified in the use of data processing equipment.

 

Ms. Henderson referenced Section 62 stating Washoe County flagged all addresses with mail drops so the addresses could be clarified for mail drop and actual residence.  Mrs. Williams discussed Section 62 and reiterated she and Secretary of State Lau would address concerns.

 

Ms. Janine Hansen, representing Nevada Eagle Forum, testified in favor of SB 250.  She expressed concerns and asked for clarification of language which Mr. Humke and Mrs. Williams provided.

 

Mrs. Lambert questioned the deputy registrar system since post- cards were used.  Mrs. Williams pointed out not everyone wanted to register to vote by mail.

 

Not everyone had the ability to go to a DMV office to register to vote, Mr. Dini added, and from a rural standpoint, he thought deputy registrars worked well.  He also felt the position was too politicized as the clerk appointed his/her particular party which had an affect on how people were registered. 

 

Concluding her testimony, Ms. Hansen expressed her appreciation for the work of the Secretary of State's office on SB 250 and hoped the bill could proceed rapidly.

 

Mr. James Dan, Northern Regional Representative for the Libertarian Party of Nevada, spoke in favor of SB 250 and emphasized his agreement with Mr. Price's remarks regarding the primary procedure.  Referring to Mrs. Lambert's question regarding both the keeping of the deputy registrar system and having the mail-in registration, he reminded a requirement was made in SB 250 that a person who registered by mail for the first time must use a different procedure in voting.  The person who registered by mail had to send in a notarized request for an absentee ballot. 

 

Mr. Dan stated the Libertarian party supported SB 250 in its present form.  He thought some small items could be improved as testimony from others indicated.  However, he preferred not to impede progress of the bill, and added the items could be addressed next session, if necessary.

 

He addressed easing of the ballot access requirements for minor political parties which was the dropping of three percent requirement to one percent.  If the number was dropped, the number of signatures which must be verified by each county clerk would be lessened and would ease the burden on the clerks.

 

Ms. Jan Gilbert, representing the League of Women Voters of Nevada, testified in support of SB 250.  She discussed Section 42 and stated having the notary request done every time a person who registered by mail wanted to vote by mail would be extreme.  She acknowledged Mr. Erquiaga had said there would be some negotiations on Section 42. 

 

Mrs. Williams closed the hearing on SB 250.

 

There being no further business to come before committee, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

 

      RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

                             

      BOBBIE MIKESELL

      Committee Secretary

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Assembly Committee on Elections and Procedures

June 22, 1993

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