Resource: Fair Maps Nevada v. Cegavske

By: Healthy Elections Project

September 1, 2020

Healthy Elections Project

Plaintiff political action committee, along with individual plaintiffs, sought to place an initiative on the Nevada November 2020 ballot that would amend Nevada’s State Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission in an effort to combat partisan gerrymandering. In light of COVID-19 and related stay-at-home orders, Plaintiffs asked the Nevada Secretary of State for an extension of the statutory deadline to submit the required signatures in support of their initiative and a waiver of certain in-person requirements regarding the collection of signatures. The Secretary refused, explaining that she had no authority under the applicable statutes to grant their request. This lawsuit followed, and Plaintiffs moved the Court for a preliminary injunction. After the Court found that the Plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of their as applied challenge to the statutory provision setting the deadline (but not the in-person requirements), the parties agreed in a consent decree to extend the deadline to submit the required signatures from June 24, 2020 to August 3, 2020.

https://healthyelections-case-tracker.stanford.edu/detail?id=85