Get rid of '50 percent' rule

Nevada's "50 percent plus one" rule needs to be thrown out, although it's too late for this election.

The rule recently was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in the case of state Sen. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas. The court had little to say, except that it saw no reason to intervene. The court wasn't wrong, but the Legislature needs to change the 1997 law during the 2001 session.

We might as well call it the "Incumbent Protection Act," because that's what it does.

In effect, it prevents most voters from being able to cast a ballot in races that are, in fact, contested. The only thing it accomplishes is to allow well-funded, well-recognized candidates - usually the incumbent - to dispense with opposition in the primary election and go on the ballot uncontested in the general election.

Here's how it works: If there are more than two candidates for an office, and all are from the same party, they face off in a primary election in which only registered members of that party may vote.

If one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote - 50 percent, plus one vote - the others are eliminated. That candidate goes on the general election ballot uncontested.

The law, originally sponsored by Dean Rhodes, R-Tuscarora, was seen as a way to get rid of meaningless campaigns. If a candidate is so favored within his own party that he gets more than half the vote, and no other party bothers to put up someone against him, why make him beat the same candidate again?

The reason, as pointed out by the Independent American Party of Nevada and others, is that voters who aren't registered in that party never get a chance to cast a ballot in the race.

In Carson City, which has the rule for nonpartisan contests, the same argument doesn't hold true. Everyone who goes to the polls in the primary gets a nonpartisan ballot. If someone can pull in 50 percent plus one, as Justice of the Peace Robey Willis did in September, it's the choice of everyone who cared to go to the polls.

In partisan races, however, the state law cuts some voters out of the picture. Any law that discourages people from voting needs to be eliminated.