Ballot Mixup Costs Counties

Saturday, Sept. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A taxpayer-funded agency, probably either the Clark County Election Department or the secretary of state's office, will have to pay for the extra printing and mailing costs resulting from the mistake.

Pam Crowell, deputy secretary of state in the Elections Division, said Friday it hasn't been determined who will pay for the reprinting.

It also was unclear how many other Nevada counties have already printed sample ballots and will have to send out a separate mailing at additional costs.

Washoe County, second largest behind Clark, should be able to avoid extensive reprinting, according to elections chief Danny Clayton. "They couldn't have cut it much closer, but I believe we'll escape large expense," he added.

Similar reports came from clerks in Carson City and in Douglas and Lyon counties, because ballot printing either hadn't started or wasn't completed.

"It's too late for us," said Clark County Registrar Kathryn Ferguson. "We've already printed up about 597,000 sample ballots. We've been printing for three solid weeks."

The sample ballots containing local races, several local tax increase measures and 17 statewide questions. They will be mailed soon and a corrected Question 14 description will be mailed later, at a cost of about $250,000, she said.

Some out-of-state and overseas voters who receive the incorrect information in their sample ballots might never see the correct language on Question 14 before they vote, Ferguson said.

Question 14 is the result of action by the Legislature to ask voters to allow nonprofit organizations to sell goods without charging sales tax. The measure, authorized by Senate Bill 144, was approved during the 1995 legislative session.

The ballot problem started early this summer when the Legislative Counsel Bureau sent information to the secretary of state on ballot questions authorized by the Legislature.

While pro and con arguments on the measure were accurate, the legislature's lawyers accidentally included the text of Assembly Bill 144 - a worker's compensation bill - instead of the thrift store tax relief proposed in SB144.

The secretary of state's office didn't catch the error and forwarded the statewide ballot questions and language to county clerks weeks ago so sample ballots could be prepared.

The error finally was spotted by Mineral County deputy clerks Glenda Peterson and Brenda Jones, while proofreading the questions this week. The secretary of state was informed on Thursday.