Fair Maps Nevada is a Nevada political action committee that has worked to create an independent redistricting commission in the state. ¹ Founded by the League of Women Voters of Nevada (LWVNV) in 2020, Fair Maps Nevada has also worked with left-of-center organizations including the Brennan Center for Justice and Represent.Us.

In 2020, Fair Maps Nevada filed a ballot question to amend the Nevada state constitution by creating an independent redistricting commission to draw Nevada legislative districts, removing that power from the state legislature. Fair Maps Nevada failed to gather enough signatures to place the initiative on the 2020 ballot, getting just over 12,000 of the nearly 100,000 signatures required by the filing deadline. ²

2020 Ballot Initiative

On November 5, 2019, League of Women Voters of Nevada incorporated Fair Maps Nevada as a political action committee. LWNV is associated with the national League of Women Voters (LWV), a left-of-center political advocacy organization.. ³ Sonda Cosgrove, president of LWVNV, noted that the ballot initiative was part of a nationwide LWV campaign to combat alleged partisan gerrymandering. Cosgrove claimed that the independent redistricting commission, if created, would design more competitive legislative districts and encourage more people to vote. ⁴

Just days after Fair Maps Nevada filed its paperwork, representatives from Fair Maps Nevada, the Brennan Center for Justice, and Represent.Us filed a ballot initiative to create an independent redistricting commission in Nevada, removing the power to create legislative districts from the Nevada legislature. The ballot initiative, if approved, would create a 7-member independent redistricting commission to legislative districts for the Nevada Legislature and the United States House of Representatives. Under the initiative, legislative leaders in the Nevada Legislature would select four members of the commission, who would then select three other members who had not been affiliated with a major party within four years of their selection. ⁵

The ballot initiative proposed an amendment to the Nevada constitution, a process that would have required that the amendment be voted on and approved in two different elections over the course of five years. In 2020, the state of Nevada required that the initiative receive 97,598 signatures before June 24 in order to qualify for the 2020 ballot. ⁶

Signature Gathering Failures

In April of 2020, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak (D) issued a stay-at-home order to combat the spread of COVID-19. At the time of the order, Fair Naps Nevada had only gathered around 10,000 of the signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. ⁷

In June of 2020, a federal judge extended the deadline to gather signatures to August 5, 2020 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fair Maps Nevada then submitted a legal request to collect signatures electronically, a request that a Nevada judge denied on the grounds that it created the potential for signature fraud and required the court to intervene in designing election procedures. ⁸ On July 26, 2020, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Fair Maps Nevada had suspended the initiative campaign after failing to collect the required number of signatures. ⁹

Fundraising

According to the July 15, 2020 report filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, Fair Naps Nevada raised $17,994.31 and spent $16,694.37 over the course of the campaign. This included a nearly $3,000 in-kind contribution from the left-progressive group Represent.Us to staff the campaign. ¹⁰

1.   Snyder, Riley. 2019. “Ballot Question Filed To Create Independent Redistricting Commission, Place Limits On Gerrymandering”. The Nevada Independent. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/ballot-question-filed-to-create-independent-redistricting-commission-place-limits-on-gerrymandering.
2. Bradford, Amanda. “Independent Redistricting Commission Amendment Dead – for Now.” Las Vegas Review-Journal , July 28, 2020. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/independent-redistricting-commission-amendment-dead-for-now-2083172/.
3. “Fair Maps Nevada.” State of Nevada Committee Registration Form. Filed November 11, 2019. Accessed September 20, 2020. https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/home/showdocument?id=8112
4.      Snyder, Riley. 2019. “Ballot Question Filed To Create Independent Redistricting Commission, Place Limits On Gerrymandering”. The Nevada Independent. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/ballot-question-filed-to-create-independent-redistricting-commission-place-limits-on-gerrymandering.   
5.   Snyder, Riley. 2019. “Ballot Question Filed To Create Independent Redistricting Commission, Place Limits On Gerrymandering”. The Nevada Independent. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/ballot-question-filed-to-create-independent-redistricting-commission-place-limits-on-gerrymandering.
6. Snyder, Riley. 2019. “Ballot Question Filed To Create Independent Redistricting Commission, Place Limits On Gerrymandering”. The Nevada Independent. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/ballot-question-filed-to-create-independent-redistricting-commission-place-limits-on-gerrymandering.
7.    Swann, Sara. 2020. “Nevada Redistricting Effort Gets More Time, But Not Electronic Signatures”. The Fulcrum. https://thefulcrum.us/amp/nevada-redistricting-2646142988.
8.       Swann, Sara. 2020. “Nevada Redistricting Effort Gets More Time, But Not Electronic Signatures”. The Fulcrum. https://thefulcrum.us/amp/nevada-redistricting-2646142988.
9. Bradford, Amanda. “Independent Redistricting Commission Amendment Dead – for Now.” Las Vegas Review-Journal , July 28, 2020. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/independent-redistricting-commission-amendment-dead-for-now-2083172/.
10.         “2020 Contributions & Expenses Report #2”. 2020. Secretary Of State Of Nevada. https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSCandidateServices/AnonymousAccess/ViewCCEReport.aspx?syn=49S9%252bf3D3O%252bAHiwPMB%252fnVQ%253d%253d.