(Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal) – A Republican governor vetoing a bill unanimously opposed by Republican legislators should be a formality, not a hold-your-breathe moment of suspense.
It speaks volumes to the confidence conservatives have — or don’t have — in Gov. Brian Sandoval that his veto of Initiative Petition 1, which will arrive on his desk this week after passing on party-line votes in each house, isn’t inevitable. IP1 would automatically register to vote anyone obtaining or renewing a driver’s license or ID card at the DMV.
Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, and Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, described the problems with IP1 on the Senate floor Monday. The biggest are that it would automatically register legal immigrants to vote and force people to opt-out of registering, instead of opting in. Kieckhefer noted that Nevada has over 21,000 legal immigrants with driver’s licenses who DMV would register to vote automatically under IP1. The Secretary of State does review registrations but, by statute, cannot check for citizenship. Unless immigrants pay more attention at the DMV than most citizens, IP1 would lead to thousands of non-citizens going on the voter rolls. They could then vote without proving citizenship or showing photo ID.
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