Of primary voters and toddlers

Some voters are like 2-year-olds at the dinner table: They're fickle, their attention span is short, and they absolutely, positively won't eat something they don't want.

This month's primaries saw a good bit of the electorate channeling their inner toddler.

Nevada primaries typically have low turnout, but this year's contests seemed to provide more reasons than normal for voter apathy and ignorance.

A new, early date for Election Day. A late spring heat wave. A Democratic ballot that had no high-profile races. An unusually large number of races, and an unusually large number of candidates in many of those races -- 12 in the GOP U.S. Senate campaign, eight in the Republican contest for the 1st Congressional District and more than three dozen judicial candidates. Plenty of excuses for uninformed votes.

Overall, Nevada primary voters made reasonable choices. Some results were surprising.

Some simply made a sham of the entire election process.

Take the Democratic primary for Clark County assessor. Regent Robert Blakely ran for the post just two years after scoring one of the biggest election upsets of 2008. Two years ago, he took on incumbent Bret Whipple, a well-known local attorney, solely because no one else had bothered entering the race. Blakely used a couple of union endorsements to secure Democratic votes for the nonpartisan office and, despite doing no other campaigning to speak of, pulled off the improbable win.

This year, for the heck of it, Blakely threw his name into a different hat to see if lightning might strike twice -- this time for an elected post that pays a salary. The cabdriver raised and spent no money, and made no effort to promote his candidacy. And he still got nearly 20,000 votes, 32 percent of the total, placing second in a field of three.

My May 2 column profiled Greg Nance Dagani, a Republican running for the state constitutional office of controller. As a member of the low-profile State Board of Education, he disgraced his office by making out with his young, rich, quadriplegic wife during meetings and, in general, being a creepy weirdo with no knowledge of public education. I named him the single worst candidate in Nevada -- and he still got more than 39,000 votes, losing to Barry Herr but out-polling "None of these candidates" by nine ballots.

Those 39,000 Republicans should never be allowed to vote again. Ever.

Or, how about 20-year-old James Brooks, the College of Southern Nevada student who finished second in the Clark County School Board District G contest, advancing to a general election runoff against Erin Cranor? Like Blakely and Dagani, Brooks raised and spent no money and did next to nothing to build his name recognition or get out the vote.

So how did he manage to beat retired special education teacher Jerry Mann and UNLV political science instructor Martin Dean Dupalo, two candidates who launched modest campaigns and had more qualifications? Heck, Dupalo had placed second in the same race four years ago.

The likely reason: the well-funded candidacy of Democrat Steven Brooks in Assembly District 19, which is right at the northern edge of School Board District G. Steven Brooks, who won his primary with just 494 votes (spending roughly $80 per vote), had signs with his last name plastered all over the place.

"I'm just as surprised as you are," James Brooks said after getting more than 4,300 votes in the primary.

I'm not ridiculing these candidates because they didn't pass out full-color fliers and business cards, send out fancy mailers or buy radio commercials. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of well-mannered, well-qualified candidates who wanted to participate in the political process without taking other people's money.

I'm simply pointing out that thousands of citizens could not possibly have had any idea who they were voting for when they put check marks next to the names of Robert Blakely, Greg Nance Dagani, James Brooks and many other candidates.

If voters care about having an accountable, properly functioning government, they have to take the time to learn about candidates. And if they can't, they should skip some parts of their ballots altogether, leaving races blank.

Fortunately, plenty of voters were paying attention June 8. And in many races where they were force-fed messages from moneyed and establishment candidates, they refused to do what they were told, and they voted for someone else.

The GOP U.S. Senate primary was the prime example. In: outsider conservative, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle. Out: wealthy former anchorwoman turned casino boss Sue Lowden.

A couple of Assembly races didn't go well for the Republican Party brass, either.

In Assembly District 13 (vacated by Chad Christensen), schoolteacher Scott Hammond beat the party's favored candidate, Joshua Gust, and three others despite being outspent by Gust by a factor of 10. And in Assembly District 5, Tim Williams beat party choice Tibi Ellis after being outspent by a factor of 14.

Then there was Marc Risman, a candidate for District Court Department 31. You couldn't take a drive, surf the Internet or visit your mailbox without being exposed to ads for Risman, who loaned himself $159,000 -- and spent even more -- to campaign for a spot on the bench. He finished third out of four candidates. Phil Dabney and Joanna Kishner spent less but campaigned better and won over more voters in advancing to the general election.

All of which goes to show there are no sure things and plenty of surprises in every election -- just like dinner with a toddler.

Democracy is nothing if not messy.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.