Ballot Question 1 the topic at Monday's Carson City Democratic luncheon
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Sat, 10/01/2022 - 1:22am
Event Date:
October 3, 2022 - 1:00pm The featured speaker at Monday's Democratic luncheon will be Nnedi Stephens, who advocates in favor of Question 1 on the general election ballot. She will lead an hour-long discussion of the measure's merits and possible downsides. Robust audience participation will be encouraged.
Question 1 asks voters whether the Nevada Constitution should be amended to guarantee equal rights regardless of “race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.”
The ballot measure stems from Senate Joint Resolution 8, approved by the Legislature in 2019 and again in 2021. Voter approval is the final step in the process, meaning a majority vote in favor of the question will amend the state Constitution to include that language.
Question 1 is separate from the long-running effort to add an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United States Constitution. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the federal ERA in 1971, followed by the U.S. Senate in 1972. From there, it was sent to the states for ratification. Unfortunately that amendment — which centered around gender equality — fell short of ratification needed by three-fourths of states by a 1982 deadline.
The push for a federal equality guarantee received renewed attention in recent years as several states finally ratified the proposed amendment. Nevada was among them.
Thirty five years after the deadline, in 2017, both houses of the Nevada Legislature ratified the federal ERA. But a federal judge ruled that the tardy ratifications occurred too late for the amendment to be added to the U.S. Constitution, and the question is subject to ongoing appeals.
A recent opinion poll found broad support for Question 1, which is essentially a state-specific version of the Equal Rights Amendment. Roughly 72 percent of voters surveyed said they would support the question on the November ballot.
Support cuts across racial and ethnic lines, with 79 percent of Black voters, 76 percent of Hispanic voters, 84 percent of Asian voters and 68 percent of white voters saying they would approve the ballot question enshrining those guaranteed rights into the state Constitution.
While Question 1 appears to have broad support, and many say it's long overdue, the effort hasn’t been without some pushback. During a legislative hearing in 2021, public commenters raised a concern about it not being sufficiently “pro-women.” Some also wanted the word “religion” included in the amendment because of worries that “creed” was too vague.
Nnedi Stephens was born and raised in Reno, one of four children of Nigerian immigrants who own and operate a successful small business. She completed a degree in Chemical Engineering and Spanish at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2018. After graduation she worked on Jacky Rosen's senatorial campaign, and in 2020 as Regional Political Director for Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign. She represents Washoe County on the Nevada State Democratic Party's Executive Board, and is a leader of the Young Democrats of Nevada. In 2022 she was a primary candidate for State Senate District 13.
Sponsored by the Democratic Men's Committee, this event is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Monday, October 3rd, and can be attended either in person at Black Bear Diner, inside Max Casino, or online via Zoom. The presentation will begin after all the lunch orders have been taken, around 1:30. Those wishing to be on distribution for luncheon Zoom links should contact Rich Dunn at richdunn@aol.com.
