Guinn signs bill on rights of voters

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | 9:49 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn signed the so-called Voter Bill of Rights Tuesday to ensure people know their rights when casting their election ballots.

Assembly Bill 235, one of 10 signed by the governor, says a person has a right to request needed assistance in voting or to return a spoiled ballot and receive a new one.

The bill says voters are entitled to have their questions answered about voting procedures and to vote without being intimidated, threatened or coerced.

These and other rights must be posted in polling places and on the Internet at the secretary of state's website.

The governor also gave his approval to Assembly Bill 285, which requires people who sign a declaration of candidacy to attest that their civil rights have been restored if they were ever convicted of treason or a felony.

In the last election Clark County election officials discovered Richard Gardner, a Republican candidate for Assembly District 14, had four criminal convictions in California in the 1980s. He gained 34 percent of the vote, but election officials said he was not eligible to register to vote because of his convictions.

Gardner said he had never lost his civil rights.