Critical Races to Watch

(D) Democrat (R) Republican
(G) Green (IN) Independent
(L) Libertarian (I) Incumbent

Senate

	Jack Carter (D)	John Ensign (R)(I)
	David Schumann	Brendan Trainor (L)

Governor

	Dina Titus (D)	Jim Gibbons (R)
	Craig Bergland (G)	Christopher Hansen

Secretary of State

	Ross Miller (D)	Danny Tarkanian (R)
	Janine Hansen

Call to Action!!!!!
Provisional Ballots
Introduced by federal law in 2002 as part of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the provisional ballot was designed for voters whose registration was in question. Initially proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus, it was to save the rights of those wrongly purged from voter rolls.

HAVA provisional ballot law allows election officials to give provisional ballots to any persons who:

• show up at the polls on Election Day but find that, for whatever reason, their names are not on the voter rolls; or
• have their right to vote challenged by an election official. (Note: In many locations it’s not just election officials, but also partisan observers who challenge voters).

Unlike regular ballots, provisional ballots are not required under HAVA to be counted. Rather, the decision whether or not to count provisional ballots is determined by the 50 individual Secretaries of State. Across the nation, large numbers of provisional ballots have been systematically rejected. During the 2004 election, a total of 3,107,490 voters were moved into provisional ballots. The number of ballots rejected was a stunning 1,090,729.

ACTION: Check with www.CanIVote.org to see if you are registered. They also need to ensure their ID matches the voter registration name exactly. Voters can be challenged over minor things, such as a middle initial on their ID while the voter roll has a full middle name listed. Next, check to be sure your polling place has not moved.

New Voter Identification Laws
Many states have passed laws that require citizens to provide a photo identification piece proving that they are indeed citizens. A driver’s license and a birth certificate are inadequate because the former doesn’t prove citizenship and the latter doesn’t provide a photo. A passport does qualify. As the state supreme courts review these new laws, many have already been struck down as unconstitutional because they are barriers to voting.

ACTION: All citizens should check with their Elections office to ensure what the current requirements are. If a photo ID is required, a protest should be lodged as to the unconstitutionality of the law.

Join the Transparency Project
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6389


Nevada Election News
Heller’s Win in Nevada 2 GOP Primary becomes Official

Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller is now the official winner of the tightly contested Aug. 15 Republican primary for his state’s open2nd Congressional District seat — following a court ruling Friday that rejected an attempt by his closest competitor,state Assemblywoman Sen. Sharron Angle, to have the outcome of the primary vacated and a new election called.

Angle conceded the contest after the court ruling and endorsed Heller for what appears a competitive contest with Democratic nominee Jill Derby, a state university regent, for the seat that five-term Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons left open to run for governor.

Because of the district court ruling and Angle’s decision not to appeal it, Heller’s victory stands, by a razor-thin margin of 428 votes. A total of about 69,000 votes were cast in the five-candidate Republican contest, in which former state Rep. Dawn Gibbons — the congressman’s wife - ran third.

Nevada: The Constitution As A Weapon Against Democracy
OPINION
Vote Trust USA, John Gideon

…The judge threw out the case, not on a finding that the practices were not illegal but on a constitutional basis. The judge found that he had no jurisdiction, in part, according to Article 1, Section 5 of the US Constitution.

The pertinent part of Article 1, Section 5 says: "Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members,........". Note the phrase "of its own members".

…in Nevada we have two citizens running in the GOP Congressional primary. Neither of them is a member of congress now. So how, and why, did Article 1, Section 5 of the US Constitution come into play? How can anyone read the Constitution and decide that the people's votes don't matter, the Legislative Branch will make the decision for us?

Could these court rulings simply be to set precedents? Could it be the move of the GOP using activist judges who are clearly legislating from the bench in order to set a precedent to be used in November? Is this all the portent of things to come in November where election challenges for the House of Representatives will go to the courts and be decided based on precedent rulings from California and Nevada and someone's incorrect reading of what is clear English?


For a daily update of election news in Nevada go to this link , click on the date, and scroll down to Nevada (news articles listed alphabetically by state).