Nevada Voters First is working to pass a 2022 ballot initiative to establish Final-Five Voting.
Nevada’s election system allows online voter registration, early voting, and no-excuse absentee voting. But, unfortunately, Nevada state law mandates closed primaries — effectively barring over half a million voters from the primary; further, candidates can win elections with a plurality of the vote. This system incentivizes candidates to appeal to a more extreme base while disenfranchising voters.
In 2020, the Nevada Democratic Party allowed ranked choice early voting for the Democratic Caucuses for president. Ranked choice voting increased voter turnout and gave voters more choice.
As of September 2021, non-major party voters represented nearly 40% of all voters. These voters are registered as independent, nonpartisan, undeclared, or with a third party–leaving them unable to vote in the state’s taxpayer-funded partisan primary.
Nevada Voters First is working to pass a 2022 ballot initiative to establish Final-Five Voting. If passed, it will amend the state constitution to establish top-five nonpartisan primaries and implement ranked choice voting for general elections.
The impact of Final-Five voting ensures Nevada elections are competitive and reflect the will of voters.
Nevada Voters First is a registered PAC responsible for leading the Better Voting Nevada Campaign. The campaign is a broad-based, cross-partisan coalition of business leaders, civic organizations, and individuals from all over the state.
The organization is working to support “Final Five Voting:” the powerful combination of top-five nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting. All candidates — regardless of party affiliation — will compete in a single primary open to all voters, and the top five finishers will advance to the general election. Then, ranked choice voting will be used to ensure the winner has majority support. If passed, this policy applies to congressional, gubernatorial, state executive offices, and state legislative elections.