EDITORIAL: In support of 'None of these candidates'

It's an expression of protest, not a wasted vote

In every statewide race, it's the only choice Nevadans are guaranteed to see on their election ballot. And it's not a party, but an opportunity for protest.

Since the 1976 election, Nevadans have had the option of selecting "None of these candidates" in races for the U.S. Senate and state offices including governor, secretary of state and seats on the Supreme Court. Nevada is the only state that offers such a choice.

 does very well for a candidate with no signs, no campaign war chest and no television advertising. In the governor's race, it collected 4 percent of the vote and finished ahead of two minor party candidates. It fetched 5 percent in the treasurer's and attorney general's races, 6 percent in the controller's campaign and 15 percent in two separate Nevada Supreme Court races.

Every once in a while, a movement to remove "None of these candidates" from ballots plods along and dies. Many people can't get past the idea that an on-the-record vote for no one is a wasted ballot.

Nevada voters are always free to skip races they aren't familiar with. But there is value in giving the electorate the option to declare that they do not like any of their choices and aren't content to settle for the lesser of two or three evils.

It's telling that in this year's campaign for governor between Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons and Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus, which played out on the front pages of newspapers and topped local news broadcasts for weeks on end, nearly 21,000 voters still couldn't bring themselves to support anyone. In the state Supreme Court Seat G race between incumbent Nancy Becker and District Judge Nancy Saitta, almost 85,000 voters picked neither.

Signaling an opinion that candidates aren't worthy of office is not a wasted vote. It's a unique expression of protest at the ballot box.

Long live "None of these candidates."

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