Not that it was in any doubt (really, ever), but we did it!
Abortion access advocates in Nevada said Monday that they have submitted almost twice the number of petition signatures needed to qualify a measure for the November ballot that would enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution.
Supporters collected and submitted more than 200,000 signatures, Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom President Lindsey Harmon told reporters. Proponents need 102,000 valid signatures by June 26 to qualify for the ballot.
“State officials will review the signatures, and they have until July 8 to fully certify the proposed amendment for the ballot.” 102,362 valid signatures from Nevada voters are required to qualify for the ballot. 25,591 signatures are required to be from each of the state's congressional districts. Elections officials in Nevada’s 17 counties verify signatures and no one knows how long that will take.
The measure would ensure “a fundamental, individual right to abortion” while allowing Nevada to regulate “provision of abortion after fetal viability ... except where necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual.”
Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] volunteers collected petitions in three congressional districts and Hope Springs organizers and “Super Volunteers” verified signers current voter registration and matched signers addresses to those on the voter file. I start with that because it is important to note that we probably doubled the number of signatures that we gathered at the door with signatures gathered elsewhere, including circulators who from outside of Hope Springs from Field. If someone asked a volunteer or organizer if their petitions could be included in this verification process, we did so. Many, perhaps most, of our volunteers took their petitions home and continued to gather signatures outside of our Saturday canvassing. Which takes us to the stats:
As of May 19th, Hope Springs volunteers* (note the disclaimer above) turned over 27,484 verified petitions from valid voters in NV-01, NV-02 and NV-03 for the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment in Nevada. (NV-04 is the massive blue district in the middle of the state, an area where we have not scheduled any canvasses.)
Putting the language into the Nevada Constitution requires voter approval in two consecutive elections. If the ballot initiative passes a first time, it would go to a vote again in 2026. If approved again, it would become law.
Nevada volunteers will continue our Issues Canvass, with the additional purpose of identifying single issue abortion voters among the electorate. Each volunteer has their own set of priorities, but winning the constitutional amendment vote, re-electing Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen are all pretty much equal in our purpose. “Now we can focus on CSRs (Constituent Service Request forms),” concluded one volunteer.
2,312 volunteers have knocked on doors in Nevada since March 23rd. 68% have been female. More than a third have been able to speak Spanish, as well. “I won’t attest to my fluency,” quipped one volunteer. The major Mexican-American neighborhoods are north of Las Vegas, in the congressional district we have not canvassed. But we did secure the signatures of voters in Latino households in the other 3 districts.
One goal for the year is accomplished. On to November...
