Nevada voters can choose “none” on the ballot for president and state offices. In Nevada, nobody wins (sort-of)

Nevada Democratic leaders acknowledged earlier this year that they had failed to recruit a credible candidate to face GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval in the fall. And on Tuesday, Silver State Democratic primary voters agreed, casting more votes for the state’s quirky “none of these candidates” option than any one of the eight actual humans on the ballot.

“None of these candidates” earned 30 percent of the vote when The Associated Press called the race, outpacing the leading actual candidate, Robert Goodman, a retired state Economic Development commissioner from Las Vegas who’s run statewide twice before and shares a last name with the Vegas mayoral dynasty, at 25 percent. But according to state law, Goodman will win the nomination.


Goodman beat out failed 2012 House candidate Stephen Frye, who finished with 11 percent. No other candidate earned double-digit support.

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Sandoval will be heavily favored to win reelection in the fall.

Nevada allows its voters to choose “none of these candidates” on the ballot for president and state offices. It’s not the first time “none” has won: In 1976, Republicans preferred “none of these candidates” to both of the actual candidates for what was then the state’s only House seat.

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The “none of these candidates” spot on the ballot has also played a pivotal role in the state’s Senate elections. Democratic Sen. Harry Reid won reelection over Republican John Ensign by a 428-vote margin, while “none of these candidates” earned nearly 8,000 votes. Similarly, GOP Sen. Dean Heller beat then-Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley in 2012 by fewer than 12,000 votes, while more than 45,000 voters cast their ballots for “none of these candidates.”