Supreme Court grants county’s appeal in candidate challenge

In what could be one of the quickest turnarounds for a Nevada Supreme Court case in recent history, justices ordered a new hearing in the county’s effort to remove Jason Garrett Gibson from the ballot.

Douglas County Clerk-Treasurer Amy Burgans, through the District Attorney’s Office, filed an appeal Tuesday from a district court order that the removal was moot because ballots had already been mailed.

Today, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded case back to District Judge Tod Young’s court for a hearing set for Friday, since early in-person voting begins on Saturday.

Justices rejected an initial challenge to Young’s order because an appeal was available, which was filed the next day.

“Burgans sought the relief of posting signs at each polling location notifying voters of Gibson’s inability to take office, if elected,” the order said.

According to state law cited in the order, the county can do that if “a court of competent jurisdiction finds in any preelection action that a person who is a candidate for any office fails to meet any qualification required for the office pursuant to the Constitution or laws of this state.”

According to the Supreme Court, Gibson asserted at a status hearing that he had not changed his party affiliation but that since his signature and passwords were publicly available, anyone could change that information without his knowledge.

“The district court did not hold an evidentiary hearing, and instead, dismissed the matter as moot because mail ballots had already been sent to voters,” the order said. “Burgans argues that the district court erred by dismissing the preelection challenge as moot. We agree.”

However, the justices said that because whether Gibson changed his party is still a question of fact, that’s yet to be determined.