Attorney general files court brief on initiatives

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Thousands of Nevadans, in good faith, signed initiative petitions to raise the minimum wage and stop frivolous suits, but the documents were defective, the state Attorney General's Office says.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Victoria T. Oldenburg said the "clear requirements of Nevada law were not followed" and the signatures could not be counted. Signed affidavits were not attached to the signature sheets as required.

She filed the response in district court Friday on behalf of Secretary of State Dean Heller who has declared that the two initiatives have failed and cannot appear on the November election ballot.

Groups called Give Nevada a Raise, Inc., and People for a Better Nevada have filed suit in district court asking for a preliminary injunction to require Heller to put the two issues on the ballot.

They cited a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that said those who circulate petitions do not have to be registered voters. The court said the registered voter requirement violated the First Amendment because it "significantly inhibits communications with voters about proposed political change."

District Judge Bill Maddox of Carson City will hold a hearing Tuesday on the request of the two groups for an order to allow the issues to be presented to the voters.

The Nevada Constitution requires that the initiative petitions must include a valid affidavit signed by a registered voter who had signed that particular document or petition.

The initiative to raise the minimum wage did not have the signed affidavit on some documents. Thus 13,994 signers in Clark County were not counted and the initiative failed to receive the required 51,337 signatures.

The petition on frivolous lawsuits failed after 10,331 signatures were not counted because of the same problem.

Oldenburg rejects the argument that the U.S. Supreme Court opinion applies. She said there is no evidence that the affidavit requirements in the Nevada Constitution "inhibit communications with voters, limit political expression or have a discriminatory effect by excluding a group of persons from participating in core political speech or the political process as a whole."

The Nevada Constitution, Oldenburg said, does not require the petition gatherers to be registered voters. It merely imposes a "simple procedure" to require a signer of a document to also sign an affidavit that all the signatures are genuine.