Opinion ID: 1190404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Insufficiency of Signatures

Text: With regard to the petitions from two counties, Carson City and Lyon County (or Lion County as it appears in the answer filed by Nevadans for Term Limits), it is clear from the record before us that these petitions cannot qualify. In Carson City, one William Elton Harvey circulated documents 73 through 82. On May 9, 1992, Harvey signed each document in the space provided. On each of the documents were also Harvey's validating affidavit sworn to on May 9, 1992. On May 9, 1992, when he signed the petition documents and the affidavits, he was not a registered voter. If because of Harvey's ineligibility to execute the validating affidavits these documents are not valid, the petition fails in Carson City. In Lyon County, one Jeanette B. Smith circulated a twenty-five-signature document which she signed on May 28, 1992. On May 28, 1992, however, she was not a registered voter. If the twenty-five-signature document is not valid, the petition fails in Lyon County. If Lyon County and Carson City do not qualify, the whole initiative fails. The question is a very simple one: Is one who is not a registered voter at the time he or she signs the petition empowered to sign the validating affidavit required by article 19, section 3 of the Nevada Constitution? The answer is clearly, no, and since these documents do not contain the required affidavit, they must be discarded. Article 19, section 3(1) of the Nevada Constitution requires that each signer of an initiative petition must affix the signature, residence address and the county in which he or she is a registered voter. The constitution goes on to provide that each document of the petition must have an affidavit made by one of the signers of such document. ... (Emphasis added.) The necessary and indispensable affidavit must say that (1) all of the signatures are genuine and (2) that each individual who signed such document was at the time of signing a registered voter.... (Emphasis added.) Because Ms. Smith in Lyon County and Mr. Harvey in Carson City were not registered voters at the time that they signed the petition, they clearly were not signers as defined by the Nevada Constitution. Only registered voters can be signers; and since they were not registered voters at the time, they could not be signers. The validating affidavit on each document must be made by one of the signers of the document. It is a legal impossibility for either Ms. Smith or Mr. Harvey to have been a signer at the time they put their signatures to the documents in question; hence, they were not qualified under our constitution to execute the validating affidavit that is required by the constitution. There can be no argument about this. This is not a matter of appellate fact-finding. This is not a matter that need be sent back to the trial court for hearing. The record is plain. No one has suggested that the signers of the subject affidavits were in fact registered voters at the time they signed the petition documents and were thus qualified to make the validating affidavit. There is no way on the record as it now stands that the initiative petition can be said to have the required number of valid signatures. It may be stricken from the ballot on this ground alone. [4]