Judge’s resignation muddles election

Bill Gang

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:10 a.m.

The vacancy created by the resignation of District Judge Don Chairez to run for Congress will result in another judicial contest for this year's elections.

But since the official filing period ended at 5 p.m. Monday, it will be a complicated and convoluted process for anyone who might want the job.

Under the Nevada Constitution, the vacancy initially will be filled by appointment by Gov. Bob Miller, but the appointee -- and anyone wishing to challenge that person -- must run in the next general election in November.

The difficult part, according to District Attorney Stewart Bell, is getting on the ballot. Without a filing period, the only way to do that is by circulating petitions and collecting signatures of registered voters equal to 1 percent of those who voted in the last election.

That is similar to the process political groups use to force questions onto the ballot or force recalls of elected officials.

Bell said that for the judicial race, more than 1,000 signatures would have to be collected and verified by the county Election Department before ballots are printed.

Since the appointment process involves complicated applications, Judicial Selection Commission interviews and meetings with the governor, it likely will take until August to complete.

Those who consider themselves serious challengers for the appointment would have to begin collecting signatures before then or risk being excluded from the election process, even if they are appointed.

Bell said that if no one collects the requisite signatures, the position would again be declared vacant after Jan. 1 and the appointment process would begin anew, although that time it would be for two years until the next election.

Bell, however, said he believes the necessary signatures could be gathered by going door to door over a couple of weekends.

If Chairez had resigned even a week earlier, there would have been time for potential candidates to file during the statutory filing period.