Simplified ballot questions considered

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

After prompting from frustrated constituents, Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, said she hopes to introduce a bill requiring the descriptions of ballot measures to be written at an eighth grade reading level.

Many people told her they were scratching their heads over ballot measures this year, especially Questions 3, 4 and 5, which all dealt with insurance and tort reform, she said.

Some told her they planned to vote "no" on all of the measures or skip them on the ballot because they were confusing, she said.

"My concern is we're alienating people from the political process," she said.

One senior activist suggested she go with an eighth grade reading level to ensure people understand the ins and outs of the initiatives, though Wiener said she planned to work with university experts to determine what reading level would work best.

It's important that people understand the unintended or longterm consequences of ballot measures, especially constitutional amendments, she said.

Ballot language was controversial this year, especially regarding Questions 4 and 5, which dealt with more than one issue.

While Question 4 was billed as a measure to decrease insurance rates by 20 percent, it also would have removed caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Questions 5 was advertised as a way to cut down on frivolous lawsuits by holding attorneys accountable, but it also weakened tort reform measures.

"Those were two of the questions that were most difficult for constituents to respond to," Wiener said.

But the court battles waged over Question 3, the measure to cap noneconomic damages in medical malpractice suits.

Representatives of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association sued at the last minute, holding up the printing of ballots statewide because they said the language describing Question 3 didn't discuss all of the consequences of the measure.

Steve George, a spokesman for the state's top election official, Secretary of State Dean Heller, said Heller hasn't had a chance to fully review Wiener's proposal yet.

But he said some ballot language was confusing partly because it was written by citizen committees. Many of those people were attorneys or activists who used complex language, George said.

The committees are a new mechanism passed by the 2003 Legislature. Valerie Wiener

D-LAS VEGAS