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Nevada Question 2, Revising Language Related to Public Entities for Individuals with Mental Illness, Blindness, or Deafness Amendment (2024)
| Nevada Question 2 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Constitutional language | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Nevada Question 2, the Revising Language Related to Public Entities for Individuals with Mental Illness, Blindness, or Deafness Amendment, was on the ballot in Nevada as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024.[1] The ballot measure was approved.
A "yes" vote supported revising language in the state constitution related to public entities that benefit individuals with mental illness, blindness, or deafness. |
A "no" vote opposed revising language in the state constitution related to public entities that benefit individuals with mental illness, blindness, or deafness. |
Election results
|
Nevada Question 2 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
897,821 | 65.97% | ||
| No | 463,218 | 34.03% | ||
Overview
What did the amendment do?
- See also: Text of measure
The amendment revised language in Article 13, Section 1 of the Nevada Constitution, which referred to public entities for individuals with mental illness, blindness, or deafness. As of 2024, Article 13, Section 1 described these entities as “institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind and deaf and dumb.” The amendment replaced the word institutions with entities and replaced insane, blind, deaf and dumb with persons with significant mental illness, persons who are blind or visually impaired, persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and persons with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities.[2]
In 1988, Washington voters approved a constitutional amendment that amended Section 3 of Article VI and Section 1 of Article XIII of the Washington Constitution, removing references to "idiots, insane, dumb, and defective youth". Voters approved the amendment by 81.37%-18.63% on November 8, 1988.
In 2024, there was measure on the North Dakota ballot that amended language used in the state constitution to describe certain state institutions such as changing "insane" to "individuals with mental illness", "feebleminded" to "individuals with developmental disabilities", and "deaf and dumb" to "deaf and hard of hearing." The amendment was placed on the ballot by the North Dakota State Legislature. The Senate approved the amendment unanimously on January 16, 2023. The amendment was approved unanimously in the House on March 22, 2023.[3]
How did this amendment get on the ballot?
- See also: Path to the ballot
In order for the Nevada State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to approve, it needs to pass each chamber of the legislature in two consecutive legislative sessions.
The amendment was introduced to the 2021-2022 legislative session as Assembly Joint Resolution 1 (AJR 1). On April 13, 2021, the Nevada State Assembly approved the amendment by 42-0, and on May 17, the Nevada State Senate approved the amendment by 21-0. On February 6, 2023, the amendment was returned from the secretary of state to the legislature. On March 29, 2023, the Assembly approved the measure by 41-0. On May 26, 2023, the Senate approved the measure by 20-0.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[4]
| “ |
Shall Section 1 of Article 13 of the Nevada Constitution be amended to: (1) revise the description of the persons who benefit from institutions that the State is required to foster and support; (2) replace the term “institutions” with “entities”; and (3) add entities for the benefit of persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities to the types of entities that the State is required to foster and support?[5] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article 13, Nevada Constitution
The measure amended section 1 of Article 13 of the state constitution. The following underlined text was added, and struck-through text would be deleted:[2]
Text of Section 1: Institutions for Insane, Blind, Deaf and Dumb to Be Fostered and Supported by State
1. Institutions Entities for the benefit of the Insane, Blind and Deaf and Dumb, persons with significant mental illness, persons who are blind or visually impaired, persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and persons with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities, and such other benevolent institutions entities as the public good may require, shall be fostered and supported by the State, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law.[5]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The secretary of state wrote the ballot language for this measure.
The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 18, and the FRE is 23. The word count for the ballot title is 63.
Support
Supporters
Officials
- State Sen. Robin Titus (R)
Arguments
Opposition
Opponents
Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.
Arguments
Ballotpedia did not locate arguments in opposition to the ballot measure.
Campaign finance
Ballotpedia has not identified ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the ballot measure.[6]
| Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Oppose | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Media editorials
- See also: 2024 ballot measure media endorsements
Support
The following media editorial boards published an editorial supporting the ballot measure:
Opposition
Ballotpedia did not locate media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.
Background
North Dakota Constitutional Measure 1, Language Describing State Institutions Amendment (2024)
A constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot in North Dakota would amend language used in the state constitution to describe certain state institutions such as changing "insane" to "individuals with mental illness", "feebleminded" to "individuals with developmental disabilities", and "deaf and dumb" to "deaf and hard of hearing." The amendment was placed on the ballot by the North Dakota State Legislature. The Senate approved the amendment unanimously on January 16, 2023. The amendment was approved unanimously in the House on March 22, 2023.[3]
Washington HJR 4231 (1988)
- See also: Washington HJR 4231 (1988)
In 1988, Washington voters approved a constitutional amendment that amended Section 3 of Article VI and Section 1 of Article XIII of the Washington Constitution, removing references to "idiots, insane, dumb, and defective youth". Voters approved the amendment by 81.37%-18.63% on November 8, 1988.
Constitutional amendments in Nevada
In Nevada, the state legislature can propose amendments to the state constitution, and citizens can propose initiated constitutional amendments. Between 1995 and 2022, 65 constitutional amendments appeared on statewide ballots. Of that total, 41 were approved, and 24 were defeated. The following chart illustrates trends in constitutional amendments on the ballot in Nevada:
| Constitutional amendments on the ballot in Nevada, 1995-2022 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Even-year average | Even-year median | Even-year minimum | Even-year maximum | |
| 65 | 41 | 63.08% | 24 | 36.92% | 4.38 | 3 | 0 | 12 | |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Nevada Constitution
In Nevada, a majority vote is required in two successive sessions of the Nevada State Legislature to place an amendment on the ballot.
2021 legislative session
The amendment was introduced as Assembly Joint Resolution 1 (AJR 1). It was approved by the Assembly on April 13, 2021, in a vote of 42-0. It was also unanimously approved by the Senate in a vote of 21-0 on May 17.[1]
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2023 legislative session
The amendment was returned from the secretary of state to the Nevada State Legislature on February 6, 2023. On March 29, 2023, the Assembly approved the measure by 41-0. On May 26, 2023, the Senate approved the measure by 20-0.[7]
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How to cast a vote
- See also: Voting in Nevada
See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Nevada.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nevada State Legislature, "AJR 1," accessed May 18, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nevada Legislature, "AJR 1 Text," accessed May 30, 2023
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 North Dakota State Legislature, "SCR 4001," accessed January 17, 2023
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Statewide Ballot Questions," accessed September 13, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance," accessed June 27, 2023
- ↑ Nevada State Legislature, "AJR 1 in 81st Session," accessed April 4, 2023
- ↑ Nevada Revised Statutes, "Title 24, Chapter 293, Section 273," accessed April 17, 2023
- ↑ ACLU of Nevada, "Know Your Voting Rights - Voting in Nevada," accessed April 17, 2023
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Nevada Secretary of State, “Elections,” accessed October 3, 2024
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, “Registering to Vote,” accessed April 17, 2023
- ↑ Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, “Voter Registration,” accessed April 17, 2023
- ↑ The Nevada Independent, “The Indy Explains: How does Nevada verify a voter's eligibility?” April 23, 2017
- ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
- ↑ Nevada Revised Statutes, "NRS 293.277 Conditions for entitlement of person to vote; forms of identification to identify registered voter." accessed April 17, 2023
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