Ranked Choice Voting ballot question losing in initial returns

A proposal to implement open primaries and ranked-choice voting in Nevada was failing Tuesday night, receiving only 44.6 percent of the vote in initial results.

The state reported 516,763 votes against the ballot question and 416,586 in support for Ballot Question 3 Tuesday night.

Nevada’s Ballot Question 3 was first passed by state voters in 2022 by 6 percentage points. If it passes again, it would amend the Nevada Constitution by replacing the current closed-primary system with nonpartisan open primaries and a ranked-choice, general election voting system for statewide, congressional, U.S. Senate and state legislator elections starting in 2026.

Currently, Nevada’s nonpartisan and minor-party voters cannot participate in Democratic and Republican primaries. Under Question 3, all voters — regardless of affiliation — would participate in primaries that make all candidates from all parties go head-to-head. The top five finishers in a primary would advance to the general election.

In the general election, voters rank their candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, that candidate wins. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the second-choice candidate on those ballots is counted instead. That process repeats until a single candidate reaches more than 50 percent support.

The question has been met with opposition by both the Nevada Democratic and Republican parties, who argue that it will sow confusion and lead to disenfranchised voters. Proponents of the ballot initiative say it will allow Nevada’s large share of nonpartisan voters to participate in a primary and will force candidates to appeal to the more moderate voter from the beginning.