Opinion: Vote for Nevada Republicans and vote 'no' on all three ballot measures

It’s been said countless times that elections are important, but this November it’s imperative that you vote to save our country.

These past two years have seen America go from greatness, with high employment numbers, low gas and grocery prices, secure borders, no wars, a strong military, no dependence on foreign oil, tremendous growth in domestic manufacturing, and a thriving stock market with everyone’s retirement investments doing well.

Now, our country is the exact opposite of the above, and not one Nevada Democrat has stood up and criticized President Biden’s policies that have systematically destroyed our country. The people who shut down your businesses and killed your careers are now asking that you re-elect them.

Never forget what they’ve done to you. That’s why it’s crucial that you vote November 8th, and that you vote a straight Republican ticket if you want to have a chance to survive in this horrible economic climate, much less one in which our President is threatening nuclear Armageddon with Russia. Again, not one word against this from Nevada’s Democrats. All they can talk about is abortion in Nevada, which is legal, as it’s a part of our State Constitution. It’s a non issue.

Nevada voters all received a ballot in the mail. I encourage you to vote in person on November 8th, using your ballot, not the machines. But, if that’s not possible, take your filled out and sealed ballot to the County Election Registrar’s office or City or County Clerk’s office. You could also give your filled out and sealed ballot to someone you trust, or call your local Republican Party office and ask for someone to pick it up and deliver it for you. Again, when voting in person, take your filled out ballot with you, and avoid using the voting machines.

This would save you time waiting in line. In any scenario, do NOT throw away your ballot unless you’ve first torn it in pieces.

There are three ballot questions being presented this voting cycle. It’s extremely important that you vote “NO!” on all three. If they were to pass, they’d become Nevada Constitutional Amendments, making them extremely difficult to reverse.

Question 1. A Nevada constitutional amendment that would prohibit the denial or abridgment of rights on account of an individual's race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.

Please VOTE NO! This would not guarantee equality of rights. What it does do, is require schools, colleges, and other government-owned facilities to allow males in women’s bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms, risking the safety and privacy of women and girls. It allows males to compete in female sports and get scholarships meant for women and girls. It also allows minor children to receive puberty blockers or gender change surgery without parental knowledge or consent. It forces taxpayers to pay for abortions in Nevada and also eliminates the age of consent.

Question 2. A Nevada constitutional amendment to increase the minimum wage in Nevada to $12 per hour by July 1, 2024, and stop the existing annual adjustments determined by inflation.
Please VOTE NO! The market should dictate minimum wage by supply and demand, NOT the government. This forces employers to pay a disproportionate wage for unskilled labor. It further creates a ripple effect across the economy resulting in increased prices. This should not even be in the Constitution. The minimum wage is designed for entry level jobs which would be eliminated should this pass, depriving young people of work experience and opportunities. Higher minimum wage laws hurt the very people they are supposed to help, including minorities, low-skill workers and teenagers.

Question 3. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). A Nevada constitutional amendment to allow all Nevada voters the right to participate in open primary elections to choose candidates for the general election in which all voters may then rank the remaining candidates by preference for states offices. Instead of just choosing who you want to win, you fill out the ballot saying who is your first choice, second choice, or third choice (or more as needed) for each position. If no candidate gets enough votes in the first round, the one in last place is eliminated and the remaining ones move to the next round, in which votes for the eliminated candidate are transferred to the voters' second choice.
Please VOTE NO! This would end the idea of one person, one vote. It allows the Registrar of Voters office to manipulate the voter preferences, potentially eliminating the candidates with the most votes, by giving third party candidates preferential treatment. It would also draw out even longer, the time it takes to count votes, with higher rates of voter error compared to traditional plurality elections. In practice, this tends to discourage first-time and limited-information voters from completing their ballots correctly or from knowledgeably ranking all the candidates on their ballots, meaning that many votes will not actually be counted. Additionally, calculating the results of RCV elections is a quagmire. Because of multiple runoff tabulations, RCV ballots across the state must be transported to a centralized location for counting, which experts have found makes elections more vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement.

These votes are a nightmare to count and accurate hand counts are next to impossible. Former Governor of California, democrat Jerry Brown Jr, was right in 2016 when he vetoed a bill to expand ranked choice voting in his state, saying it was “overly complicated and confusing” and “deprives voters of genuinely informed choice.” Ranked choice voting would present many opportunities to compromise the electoral system.

If you are a registered Democrat, Libertarian or Independent reading this opinion, I hope I’ve convinced you to cross party lines and vote Republican. Tulsi Gabbard recently left the Democrat party because she believes in a government “that’s of the people, by the people and for the people.

Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not have that belief. Instead it stands for a government that is of, by, and for the powerful elite. We have too many people in positions of power whose foremost responsibility is to protect our freedoms and uphold our God-given rights, and yet they are the ones who are actually trying to take these rights away from us, This is the biggest threat to our country. It is not coming from some foreign country — it is coming from power elites here at home and their co-conspirators in the mainstream media and the security state who are working to undermine our freedoms.”

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” This November, don’t be silent! Your vote truly matters. Vote straight Republican, and “No,” on the three ballot questions. This is the best thing you can do to save Nevada and our country!

Joannah Schumacher is President of the Nevada Republican Assembly.