No petitions on November ballot

Secretary of State Ross Miller says the November elections will be the first time in 18 years there will be no initiative petitions on the ballot.

The deadline for submitting signatures to qualify a petition passed last week with no petitions presented in any of Nevada's 17 counties. The last time that occurred was in 1992, according to Miller.

Three petitions were filed with the secretary of state's office and circulated, but withdrawn by their authors. They were the "Fair Mining Taxes" petition, "Save Our Secret Ballot," which would put in the Constitution that all ballots must be secret, and "Save Our Secret

Ballot - Employee Representation," which would have guaranteed secret ballots in unionizing elections.

In order to become part of Nevada's Constitution, ballot questions resulting from an initiative petition must be approved by voters in two consecutive statewide general elections.

Miller said there are other initiative petitions still in circulation but those call for changes in Nevada statutes and, if they receive enough signatures, will be presented to the 2011 Legislature. If lawmakers fail to act, those issues would then be presented to voters in 2012.