Petition games

There are more reports that signature gatherers for an initiative petition are misrepresenting the content of their petition.

The petition would use a statewide vote to raise the sales tax in a tax district in Clark County to pay for a Harrah’s arena within that district (“Harrah’s eyes public money,” RN&R, Oct. 28). The campus newspaper Sagebrush last week reported that several students said they were told by signature seekers that the petition is intended for a Reno arena, which is not true.

“It’s pretty dishonest,” student Charles Reider told the newspaper. “They need to be explicit that it’s in Las Vegas, not Reno.”

There have also been reports—including in the Sagebrush—of a second petition being circulated to “annul” the Harrah’s petition, but no one seems to know what this is. The only way to annul one initiative petition is to file a second initiative petition and get a larger number of votes for it, but the Nevada secretary of state’s office reports that no additional petition has been registered.

On Election Day, the Reno Gazette-Journal carried a full-page advertisement attacking the Harrah’s petition, paid for by the casino group that funded a lawsuit against it. The ad urges people who’ve already signed the petition to file forms revoking those signatures.

The Harrah’s petition uses a procedure under which it will not go directly onto the ballot if it gets the required number of signatures. Instead, the Nevada Legislature gets a chance to enact it first, eliminating the need for a public vote. If the lawmakers fail to do so, then the public gets a chance to vote on it. In that case, the legislators can also offer their own version of such a proposal.