Carson City residents spurn ward voting proposal

Carson City voters rejected a proposal Tuesday aimed at allowing ward voting for city supervisors in primary elections if more than two candidates file in a ward.

The vote was advisory and called for Nevada’s Legislature to consider having the city change from the current system, which requires each of the supervisors to live in the ward he or she represents but has the electorate choose supervisors in citywide balloting both during primaries and in the general elections.

The advisory question fell in a 64-36 percentage split.

The exact ballot question put before city residents as Question No. CC 1 was this:

“Shall the Nevada Legislature amend the Carson City Charter to provide for nomination by ward only voting in ward-supervisor primary elections with an at-large general election run off between the two highest vote receivers in each ward?”

Supporters of the change said it amounts to neighbors nominating, everyone in the city electing supervisors. They advocated it as a way to enhance retail politics in neighborhoods of each ward during the nomination process, as well as a method to cut the cost for that preliminary step in the election process.

Opponents, meanwhile, said it might tend to pit ward representatives against each other rather than having the mayor and four supervisors work together for the entire city.

Another argument was it upsets a 45-year tradition and a third was that it could open the city’s election process to legislative preference for ward voting in the capital city for both primaries and general elections.