Nevada voters have unique option in presidential race: None of These Candidates

CARSON CITY — Voters frustrated with the choices for president in the Nov. 8 election have a unique option in Nevada to register their displeasure with politicians.

A 1975 law gives Nevada voters the option of choosing “None Of These Candidates” in all statewide races, including presidential and U.S. Senate races though such a vote carries no weight.

While the option found only in Nevada has no practical effect, it can still send a message to unpopular or unknown candidates. The law was passed after the Watergate scandal as a way of giving disillusioned voters a reason to show up on Election Day.

All you have to do to see its impact is look back at the 2014 primary election in which Republicans overwhelmingly supported Gov. Brian Sandoval for a second term.

Democrats had other ideas. With no marquee candidate in the primary, the few voters who cast ballots picked “none” over eight filed Democratic candidates. Nearly 30 percent of those who cast ballots picked none, with Las Vegas resident Bob Goodman leading the remainder of the pack with about 25 percent of the vote.

Goodman went on to the Nov. 4 general election, where he and every other statewide Democratic candidate was trounced in the unprecedented GOP sweep of 2014.

UNLV political science professor David Damore said he likes the choice as a way to encourage voters to participate.

“The criticism is that it doesn’t have any teeth — there is no runoff if ‘none’ wins, but it gives voters the option to participate and signal their dismay,” he said.

As to presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Damore said he expects “none” to do better this year than in past presidential contests “just because of the tone of the campaign and the unfavorable view of the candidates by some voters.”

Research on the use of the none option shows that it is picked by voters as a form of protest rather than being unfamiliar with a candidate, he said. It can also keep a winner from getting a mandate with more than 50 percent of the vote, which can also reflect some level of dissatisfaction with the ballot choices, Damore said.

Nevada law does not permit write-in candidates, which some voters have used in other states to protest.

The original legislation would have required runoffs if “none” won in a race. It also would have applied to state legislative races, but those elements were amended out of the original measure 30 years ago.

The none option is used in some other countries but nowhere else in the United States.

The none category has made its presence felt in several Nevada election cycles, mostly in primary contests.

The secretary of state’s office reported that in 1976, the “none” selection beat out two Republicans seeking Nevada’s only congressional seat in the primary. “None” received 16,097 votes while candidates Dart Anthony received 8,097 votes and Walden Earhart received 9,831 votes.

A report from then-Secretary of State Dean Heller also identified three other races in which “none” won: a 1978 GOP congressional primary, a 1978 Republican secretary of state primary and a Democratic treasurer’s primary in 1986.

Nevada Republicans challenged the use of “none” in 2012. A federal lawsuit paid for by the Republican National Committee argued Nevada’s unique voter option disenfranchises voters because even if “none” receives the most votes, it doesn’t win.

Republicans were concerned the option could siphon votes from a disgruntled electorate and sway the outcome of the presidential and U.S. Senate contests in Nevada.

A federal judge agreed with Republicans and invalidated the option, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the decision, allowing its use for the 2012 general election. The appeals court later tossed the challenge, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case.

The none option did not play a role in the 2012 presidential contest, getting only 0.57 percent of the vote compared with 52.36 percent for Barack Obama and 45.68 percent for Mitt Romney.

But it might have played a role in the open 2012 U.S. Senate race, where Republican Dean Heller defeated Democrat Shelley Berkley by a little more than 11,000 votes with just under 1 million votes cast in the race.

“None” came in fourth of four options with 4.54 percent of the vote. Just over 45,000 voters picked the option.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.