Nevadans asked to vote on favorite quarter design

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Don't think you can double vote for the bighorn sheep in this election -- state Treasurer Brian Krolicki is watching you.

Krolicki unveiled five finalists for the design on the state quarter Wednesday and invited Nevadans to cast a vote on their favorite by May 30.

The new quarter will be released in January.

But Krolicki jokingly warned Nevadans not to get overzealous. South Dakota, he said, had more votes cast for its state quarter than it did residents.

Nevadans can vote on the Internet at www.NevadaTreasurer.gov or cast ballots at the Sawyer State Office Building at 500 E. Washington Ave.

The results will be "hermetically sealed and controlled by the security forces of the state treasurer's office" until they are released, probably on May 31, Krolicki said.

The quarters already have generated some controversy. Last year the U.S. Mint nixed the idea for a quarter representing the state gaming industry with a slot machine or some other symbol, saying it might offend some people.

Krolicki said he appealed the decision up to Treasury Secretary John Snow, but it was no dice.

The less controversial finalists include an imposing picture of the desert bighorn sheep, a miner swinging a pick ax, images of ancient baskets and petroglyphs, wild horses running in front of the Sierra Nevada and a "Battle Born" theme showing two crossed pick axes.

The five themes were narrowed from about 500 first submitted to a committee of 18 people, Krolicki said.

Symbols such as Hoover Dam and bristlecone pine were rejected as the committee struggled with the question of, "how do you capture the essence of a state on the back of a quarter?" Krolicki said.

A group of seventh graders from Reno's Swope Middle School traveled to Carson City Wednesday to cast the first votes. An informal poll of the history-minded students showed they liked the miner and the sheep.

"Mining is the main reason that Nevada became populated," said 12-year-old Nick Tscheekar.

Added 13-year-old Shravan Challapalli, "It reflects a lot of our history from the 1800s. That's how Nevada got a lot of its population."

Indeed, the quarters were checked to ensure historic accuracy. The miner, for example, originally held both an ax and a shovel. But Kathy Besser, Krolicki's chief of staff pointed out, so-called "muckers" who shovel rocks are much different from "pickers."

"You're either shoveling or picking, but you're not doing both," she said.

As votes are cast, Krolicki said he will be looking for "certain unusual voting patterns or some rascals out there we can identify that may have voted numerous times."

Krolicki promised that the paper ballots will be kept confidential.

"It's so low tech," laughed Besser on Wednesday afternoon, as she was counting the first of the paper ballots by hand.

Krolicki declined to name his favorite, but his 6-year-old daughter, Kate, who sat on the advisory committee, was clear about hers. She cast the first ballot for the wild horses.

"We have the most wild horses in the country," she said.

However, the wild horses design is not popular with some of the state's ranchers and the legislators who represent them. Wild horses are considered a scourge by some residents of rural Nevada because the horses eat and trample range grasses that would otherwise provide feed for ranchers' livestock.