Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Nevada voter ID initiative revised, refiled

Sharron miked

Karoun Demirjian

Sharron Angle speaks to a group of Rick Santorum supporters at Santorum’s campaign headquarters in Las Vegas, Feb. 4, 2012.

An initiative petition requiring voter identification, declared invalid by a district judge last week, has been corrected and was refiled with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday.

Former U.S. Senate candidate and Nevada Assemblywoman Sharron Angle said the language in the description of the petition has been reworked in line with the suggestions of District Judge Todd Russell.

Angle of Reno said she will have 7,000 volunteers ready Saturday to start gathering the required 101,667 signatures of registered voters to put the issue on the November ballot to amend the Nevada Constitution.

The law also requires that 25,417 signers must come from each of the four congressional districts.

Sen. Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, who actually filed the petition, said the aim is to get 130,000 to 140,000 signatures in case some of the signers are not registered voters.

The petition says that free voter identification cards with the photo of an individual will be available to those who don’t have government ID cards.

Judge Russell said the explanation in the summary of the petition failed to tell prospective signers that there would be a financial cost to the state.

Opponents of the petition, including the Democratic Party and the ACLU, filed suit claiming the petition was defective and the proponents should not be allowed to gather signatures.

Judge Russell agreed the description language was deficient and said it should be revised, requiring a rewrite of the 200-word summary explaining the petition.

Angle said volunteers will also seek signatures on another initiative petition barring the state from operating a health insurance exchange. The state is now running a program to enroll persons to buy health insurance from one of four insurance companies.

Both petitions would have to be approved in the 2014 and 2016 elections if they qualify for the ballot.

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