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Nicole Cannizzaro recall, Nevada State Senate (2017-2018)

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Nevada State Senate recall
Nicole Cannizzaro.jpg
Officeholders
Nicole Cannizzaro
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview
Political recall efforts, 2018
Recalls in Nevada
Nevada recall laws
State legislative recalls
Recall reports

An effort to recall Nicole Cannizzaro, a member of the Democratic Party, from her elected position representing District 6 in the Nevada State Senate failed to make the ballot. The effort was launched on August 16, 2017, and sought to replace Cannizzaro with Republican April Becker. Supporters of the recall effort needed to collect 14,975 signatures by November 14, 2017, to move the recall forward. The recall petition did not give an official reason for the recall against Sen. Cannizzaro.[1]

Recall officials announced on April 9, 2018, that the Cannizzaro recall campaign did not have the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to documents filed by Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R) on April 6, it fell short of the signature threshold by at least 1,900 signatures. More than 2,300 people were removed from the recall petitions after Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese ruled on March 15, 2018, that they could withdraw their names.[2]

Recall supporters appealed Judge Wiese's decision and on April 19, 2019, the state Supreme rejected that appeal. The lawyers in the case argued over the constitutionality of allowing people to remove their names from a recall petition after it had already been turned in to state officials. The court said that Judge Wiese was correct in his decision to order a full recount of the signatures on the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recall petitions. The court's decision officially ended the recalls against the two state senators.[3]

In August 2017, two other Nevada state senators, Patricia Farley (nonpartisan) and Joyce Woodhouse (D), also had recall petitions filed against them. At that time, Democrats had a 10-9 majority with one nonpartisan member—Farley—caucusing with Democrats and one vacancy. The vacant seat was previously held by a Democrat.

Timeline

  • April 19, 2019: The state Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the recall supporters, officially ending the recalls against Sen. Woodhouse and Sen. Cannizzaro. The court said that Judge Wiese was correct in his decision to order a full recount of the signatures on the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recall petitions. The recount found that neither recall had the necessary amount of valid signatures to trigger a recall election.[4]
  • March 4, 2019: The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the appeal on March 4. The lawyers in the case argued over the constitutionality of allowing people to remove their names from a recall petition after it had already been turned in to state officials.[5]
  • October 17, 2018: According to an audit report, the recall attempts against two Nevada senators should have initially been declared invalid had the state's secretary of state's office used a more effective sampling methodology. State auditors submitted recommendations to the Executive Audit Branch Committee to improve the state's process for verifying signatures for recall petitions.[6]
  • August 31, 2018: Lawyers for the recall supporters filed their opening briefs to appeal to the state Supreme Court a lower court's decision against qualifying the recall petitions to the ballot.[7]
  • May 30, 2018: Supporters of the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recalls filed a notice in court that they are appealing Jerry Wiese's decision to the state Supreme Court.[8]
  • April 18, 2018: Judge Jerry Wiese ruled that the recalls against Woodhouse and Cannizzaro failed to qualify for the ballot.[9]
  • April 9, 2018: Recall officials announced that the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recall efforts did not have the necessary signatures to make the ballot.[2]
  • March 15, 2018: Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese ruled on March 15 that forms submitted by people requesting to have their names removed from the recall petitions targeting state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse (D) and state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro (D) must be counted.
  • February 7, 2018: Recall lawsuit was heard in court. Read more here.
  • December 27, 2017: Democrats filed a lawsuit to block the Cannizzaro recall effort.
  • December 19, 2017: The Nevada Secretary of State’s office said that enough signatures were submitted to trigger a recall election against Sen. Cannizzaro.
  • November 14, 2017: Supporters submitted 16,875 signatures.
  • August 16, 2017: Neil Roth and two others filed paperwork with Clark County to begin the recall process.[1]

Background

Nevada Senate District 6

State Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro (D) was elected to the chamber in 2016. Cannizzaro defeated former Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman (R) in the 2016 general election by 1,036 votes, 51 percent to 49 percent. The seat was previously held by Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison (R). Hutchison was elected to Senate District 6 in 2012 by a margin of 901 votes, 51 percent to 49 percent. After Hutchison was elected as lieutenant governor in 2014, Mark Lipparelli (R) was appointed to the seat but did not seek re-election in 2016.

Recall supporters

The recall effort was initiated by Neil Roth, Claire Roth, and Kathryn McKenzie. The recall sought to replace Cannizzaro with Republican April Becker.[1] Neil Roth is the CEO of Xtreme Green Electric Vehicles.[10]

Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison's (R) law firm, Hutchison & Steffen, represented the recall committees against Sen. Patricia Farley, Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, and Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro. Hutchison's chief of staff, Ryan Cherry, confirmed that the lieutenant governor was aware that his law firm was representing the recall supporters but stated that Hutchison would not comment on the recalls until the process plays out. Cherry said, "He [Hutchison] supports the voters right to chose [sic] whether to recall or retain an elected official. If 25 percent of voters sign a petition to recall that’s an indication that there is an appetite to hold a recall election. Let the process play out. He trusts Nevada voters." Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said that he had no plans to support the recall efforts.[11]

List of supporters

Recall opponents

Below was Nicole Cannizzaro's official response to the recall effort:[13]

“

Nevada Republicans have stooped to a new low by filing this baseless petition, but I'm not surprised by their secretive political games. The shady special interests and cowardly legislators behind this subversion of the recall process don't intimidate me one bit.[14]

”

Of the 11 seats up for election in 2018, Democrats held four seats, Republicans held six seats, and one seat belonged to a nonpartisan member. Sen. Cannizzaro represented a district that voted for Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016 by 50 percent to Donald Trump's 45 percent.[15] Cannizzaro's seat was not up for election again until 2020.

List of opponents

Legal challenges

Democratic injunction

Attorneys for Nevada Democrats on November 6, 2017, filed a request for a preliminary injunction to block the recall efforts against the three state senators. At the time of the filing, three recall petitions were underway against three state senators, but the recall against Sen. Patricia Farley (nonpartisan) submitted insufficient signatures on November 9, 2017. Attorneys Marc Elias and Bradley Schrager argued in the request that if special elections were needed in the recalls, it would “burden, abridge, and deny the fundamental right to vote” for voters in the three state Senate districts.”[16] U.S District Court Judge James Mahan set a hearing for the injunction on November 29, 2017.[17]

On November 17, 2017, Democrats filed an order to delay the November 29 hearing until the court could take action on a separate lawsuit involving the Sen. Woodhouse recall. On November 21, 2017, Judge Mahan agreed to indefinitely delay the hearing for an injunction.[18]

Cannizzaro lawsuit

On December 27, 2017, Nevada Democrats filed a lawsuit over the Cannizzaro recall petition. The lawsuit claimed that 1,700 signatures were invalid because the signers did not meet the requirements to sign the petition. It also claimed that 2,225 people requested to be removed from the recall petition.[19] The lawsuit was heard in court on February 7, 2018.[20]

Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese ruled on March 15, 2018, that forms submitted by people requesting to have their names removed from the recall petitions targeting state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse (D) and state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro (D) had to be counted. Judge Wiese heard arguments on February 7 in the lawsuit over the recall efforts against Sen. Woodhouse and Sen. Cannizzaro. The lawsuit argued that more than 2,000 names on the two recall petitions should not be counted because those signatories have filed to have their names removed.[21]

Recall officials announced on April 9, 2018, that neither the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recall campaigns had the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to documents filed by Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R) on April 6, each recall fell short of the signature threshold by at least 1,500 signatures. More than 2,300 people were removed from the recall petitions after Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese ruled on March 15, 2018, that they could withdraw their names.[2]

On April 18, 2018, Judge Jerry Wiese ruled that the recalls against Woodhouse and Cannizzaro failed. After a recount of the signatures, each recall was found to have an insufficient amount of valid signatures. The review found in the Woodhouse recall that 14,216 signatures and 1,388 submission removal forms were valid. With the induction of the removal forms, the recall fell short of the 14,412 signatures needed to make the ballot by around 1,600 signatures. The review found in the Cannizzaro recall that 14,469 signatures were valid, falling short of qualifying for the ballot by 506 signatures. With the signature removal forms, the Cannizzaro recall fell short of the recall threshold by around 1,900 signatures. In the Cannizzaro recall, 14,975 signatures were needed to make the ballot.[9]

Campaign finance

Recall opponents

In November 2017, The Washington Post reported that the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee had raised almost $1 million to oppose the recalls. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee also pledged $50,000 to oppose the recall efforts.[22]

Recall supporters

The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) donated $160,000 in support of the recall effort against Sen. Patricia Farley. Matthew Walter, president of the RSLC, said that his organization also donated to the recall committees that tried to recall Woodhouse and Cannizzaro, but did not say how much was given.[23]

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Nevada

According to a 2010 court ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court, those who seek to recall public officers must collect signatures of at least 25 percent of the number of voters who cast their ballots in the election when the officers last won their seats.[24]

For the recall against Sen. Cannizzaro to be placed on the ballot, supporters of the recall needed to gather 14,975 signatures within 90 days. Recall supporters had until November 14, 2017, to turn in signatures for the recall to go forward.[1] Supporters submitted 16,875 signatures on November 14, 2017. 15,018 signatures were found to be valid.[25] The recall fell short of the signature threshold after Judge Jerry Wiese ruled in March 2018 that thousands of people could have their names removed from the recall petitions.[2]

Call for a special election

If the secretary of state's office determines that a recall petition is qualified, the filing officer has between 10 and 20 days to issue a call for a special election unless a court complaint has been filed. The special election is held 30 days after the call.

There are two types of special elections that can be held for a recall. (1) If no other candidates are nominated to be voted on in the special election, the ballot will include the public officer's name and office and the words "For Recall" and "Against Recall." (2) If other candidates are nominated to be voted on in the special election, the public officer's name and office and the other candidate names will be printed on the ballot. The words "For Recall" and "Against Recall" are omitted from the ballot.[26]

Election history

2016

See also: Nevada State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Nevada State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016. Incumbent Mark Lipparelli (R) did not seek re-election.

Nicole Cannizzaro defeated Victoria Seaman in the Nevada State Senate District 6 general election.[27][28]

Nevada State Senate, District 6 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Nicole Cannizzaro 50.92% 28,733
     Republican Victoria Seaman 49.08% 27,697
Total Votes 56,430
Source: Nevada Secretary of State


Nicole Cannizzaro ran unopposed in the Nevada State Senate District 6 Democratic primary.[29][30]

Nevada State Senate District 6, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Nicole Cannizzaro  (unopposed)


Victoria Seaman defeated Erv Nelson in the Nevada State Senate District 6 Republican primary.[29][30]

Nevada State Senate District 6, Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Victoria Seaman 62.79% 3,894
     Republican Erv Nelson 37.21% 2,308
Total Votes 6,202

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Nicole Cannizzaro Nevada recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Nicole Cannizzaro recall, Nevada State Senate (2017-2018) - Google News

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Nevada Independent, "Recall filed against Democratic state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro; third senator targeted in recall efforts," August 16, 2017
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Nevada Independent, "State: Recalls targeting Democratic state senators don't have enough signatures to qualify for ballot," April 9, 2018
  3. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Unanimous Nevada Supreme Court ends recall effort against Democrats," April 19, 2019
  4. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Supreme Court decision ends Republican-backed attempts to recall state senators," April 19, 2019
  5. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "State Senate recall case targeting Democrats argued before Supreme Court," March 4, 2019
  6. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Audit: Secretary of State should have initially declared state Senate recall petitions invalid," October 18, 2018
  7. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "13 months later, legal challenges in effort to recall state senators reaches Supreme Court," September 6, 2018
  8. ↑ KNPR, "Backers Of Effort To Recall Democratic Lawmakers To Appeal," May 31, 2018
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Nevada Independent, "Judge rules recall efforts targeting state senators dead; possible appeal uncertain," April 18, 2018
  10. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Recall targets a third Nevada senator," August 16, 2017
  11. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "With law firm involved in state Senate recalls, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison still noncommittal: 'Let the process play out,'" August 15, 2017
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Reno Gazette-Journal, "3rd Nevada senator target of Republicans’ recall petitions," August 17, 2017
  13. ↑ Twitter, "NV Senate Democrats on August 16, 2017," accessed August 16, 2017
  14. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  15. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
  16. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Democrats ask federal court to block recall efforts against trio of state senators," November 8, 2017
  17. ↑ Las Vegal Review-Journal, "Recall dud, gubernatorial bid finish busy week in Nevada politics," November 12, 2017
  18. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Court indefinitely delays oral arguments in federal case challenging recalls of Democratic state senators," October 22, 2017
  19. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Opponents of recall say officials failed to follow Nevada law," December 27, 2017
  20. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Campaign 2018: Nevada recall efforts will be heard in court," February 4, 2018
  21. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Judge strikes blow against recall of Democratic Nevada senators," March 14, 2018
  22. ↑ The Washington Post, "After losing control a year ago, Nevada GOP is trying to flip state senate through unexplained recall process," November 29, 2017
  23. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "National Republican group funded attempt to recall Farley," December 8, 2017
  24. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Court reverses ruling allowing recall election," July 3, 2010
  25. ↑ The Nevada Independent, "Republicans submit petition to recall Democratic state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro; initial count surpasses signature threshold," November 14, 2017
  26. ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Recall guide," accessed November 13, 2017
  27. ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "2016 Master Statewide Certified List of Candidates," accessed August 19, 2016
  28. ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "2016 general election results," accessed November 25, 2016
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Nevada Secretary of State, "2016 Election Certified List of Candidates," accessed May 16, 2016
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Nevada Secretary of State, "Official Primary election results," accessed August 22, 2016
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