Indy Explains: Question 3 would see ranked-choice voting, open primaries in Nevada
Voters this November will have an opportunity to vote on a ballot measure that would fundamentally change Nevada’s election system.
The measure, Question 3, would change the Nevada Constitution in two big ways — it would allow all voters to participate in primaries regardless of party affiliation and implement ranked-choice voting in general elections.
It’s the second time Question 3 will appear before voters after it narrowly passed in the 2022 election. Read below for specific details on what the ballot measure would do, who supports it and how much it would cost.
Summary of what it does: Question 3 would require most partisan elections in Nevada to move to a ranked-choice voting system, excluding presidential and local government elections but affecting contests for U.S. Senate and congressional races, legislative elections and statewide office positions.
If passed, primary elections in the state would open up to all voters regardless of party registration starting in 2026, with the top five vote-getters (regardless of their political party) advancing to the general election.
Nevada currently operates under a “closed primary” system, where only registered voters of the same political party can participate in a primary and, thus, help determine who moves on to the general election. Registered nonpartisans or people affiliated with minor political parties do not get to vote in most contests on the primary ballot.
At the general election, voters would rank candidates by order of preference. Voters could mark as many as five preferences among candidates but could also choose to rank only one candidate or any number less than five.
Under this system, any candidate who receives a majority of the votes (more than 50 percent) would be declared the winner.
If no candidate wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes would be eliminated and their votes would be redistributed to the candidates listed as voters’ second preference. This shuffling and vote reallocation process would continue until one candidate reaches a majority.
Votes for “none of these candidates” would be required to be calculated, reported and made public, but would not be otherwise counted to elect or rank any candidates for partisan office.
Nevada law dictates the ballot order. If Question 3 passes, the Nevada ballot would list the ticket as president (unranked and by party), federal and state partisan races (ranked), local government races (unranked and by party) and nonpartisan (unranked). On a given ballot, a voter would switch between the traditional and ranked-choice voting methods.
Read more: Indy Explains: Question 3, open primaries and ranked-choice voting
How did we get here?: The ballot question is formally known as the Better Voting Nevada Initiative. Its journey began in November 2021, when Nevada Voters First, a political action committee, filed the initiative petition seeking a constitutional amendment to make the proposed election changes.
The Institute for Political Innovation, a nonprofit founded by author and philanthropist Katherine M. Gehl, financially backed the measure. Gehl pioneered the concept of “final-five voting,” which is what the ballot question would implement in Nevada.
Surviving a legal challenge, the measure passed in November 2022 with the support of about 53 percent of voters, despite opposition from prominent elected leaders of both major parties.
Though Nevada Voters First filed the initial initiative petition, organizers registered a new PAC, Vote Yes on 3, Inc., with the secretary of state’s office March 15, 2024. Representatives of the new PAC said everything will be branded “Vote Yes on 3” for the 2024 campaign.
What have other states done?: Maine and Alaska are the only two states that have adopted ranked-choice voting for statewide elections, and some municipalities have also adopted the system — including New York City.
Maine voters adopted a ranked-choice voting system for state and federal primary elections and general congressional elections in 2016, implementing and using the system in 2018. The state started using ranked-choice voting in presidential general elections in 2020 and the presidential primaries starting in 2024.
Voters in Alaska adopted ranked-choice voting in 2020 and began using it in 2022 for all state and federal general elections.
In 2020, Democratic parties in Hawaii, Alaska, Kansas and Wyoming and early voters in Nevada used ranked-choice voting in their presidential primaries.
The arguments in favor: Supporters say Question 3 would allow more people to participate in the election process, especially as the state’s share of nonpartisan voters grows.
Since 2023, nonpartisans have outnumbered registered Democrats and Republicans in the state, making them Nevada’s largest group of registered voters.
Advocates argue that allowing nonpartisan voters to weigh in during primaries could potentially temper the success of more extremist candidates, while giving nonpartisan voters a greater voice and allowing candidates who appeal to a broad audience to advance to the general elections.
“Under Question 3, the need to pick the ‘lesser of two evils’ in the general election is something that Nevada voters will never have to contend with again,” A’Esha Goins, the founder of Black Joy Consulting and the outreach director for the Yes on 3 campaign, wrote in a December op-ed.
Sondra Cosgrove, a professor at the College of Southern Nevada who has advocated for the measure as a volunteer, told The Nevada Independent that voters are tired of political parties controlling election options, but the ballot question would solve the issue of voters fearing a spoiler effect if they support their preferred, but less likely to win, candidate.
“Ranked choice voting’s instant runoff feature gives us more choices in the general election without splitting the vote and electing someone most of us did not want,” Cosgrove said.
In response to criticism that ranked-choice voting is confusing for voters, proponents of the ballot measure have said there is plenty of time to educate voters about the changes given that it wouldn’t go into effect until the 2026 election.
The arguments against: Nevada’s two Democratic senators — Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen — have sharply criticized the proposal as confusing for voters, warning the process could lead to errors that cause eligible votes to be thrown out.
Other top officials who oppose the proposal include Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) and Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas). The Nevada GOP and Nevada Democratic Party also oppose the ballot measure.
Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative policy research organization, has also opposed the measure, publishing an opinion piece last year arguing that ranked-choice voting leads to delays in ballot tabulation, among other issues.
Alongside elected officials, several nonpartisan and left-leaning groups have opposed the initiative.
The Let Nevadans Vote coalition, which includes representatives from more than 20 groups, including Silver State Voices and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, has denounced the measure and argued that the system could lead to confusion about how to vote and how votes will be tabulated for those who are casting a ballot for the first time or who do not speak English as their first language.
The Nevada State AFL-CIO also declared its opposition to the initiative.
Primary funders: Almost all of the money supporting Nevada Voters First in 2022 came from out-of-state donors, led by a $5 million contribution from Gehl. Alongside Gehl, the group also garnered financial support from the Realtors, a teachers union and the gaming industry.
Other major contributors included:
- Kenneth Griffin ($3 million), a Florida-based billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of Citadel, who has been among the most prolific GOP mega donors this cycle
- Action Now Inc. ($3 million), a Texas-based philanthropic group funded by billionaire couple John and Laura Arnold
- Kathryn Murdoch ($2.5 million), a New York-based political activist and daughter-in-law of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch
- John Sobrato ($1 million), a California-based billionaire real estate developer
In its first official finance report since its formation, the new pro Question 3 PAC reported more than $5.7 million in donations, $4 million of which came from Article IV, a nonpartisan organization focused on Democracy based in Arlington, Virginia. Another $1.5 million came from Unite America, a venture fund in Colorado supporting election reform, and $250,000 came from Wynn Resorts.
Financial impact: The implementation of ranked-choice voting would cost approximately $3.2 million ahead of the 2026 general election, as well as an additional $57,000 per year moving forward, per a financial analysis of the ballot measure conducted by Legislative Counsel Bureau fiscal staff in 2022.
The two-page fiscal report does not break down individual costs, but said expenses would be driven by “voter outreach and education, increased ballot stock costs, personnel expenses, equipment, software and programming costs for voting machines and updates to training materials.