Nevada: Lawsuit against State Senate recalls

Marc Elias, Hillary Clinton's former General Counsel, has filed suit to stop the recall effort against three state Senators in Nevada, two of whom, Joyce Woodhouse and Nicole Cannizzaro are Democrats and one a Republican-turned-independent, Patricia Farley. The recall effort has the support of Lieutenant Governor Marc Hutchinson's (R) law firm and the heavy support of GOP state Senate leader Michael Roberson, so this is a very partisan affair. If all three would be removed, the Republicans would regain control of the state senate.

The argument that Elias makes against the recall seems very unlikely, though the Nevada Supreme Court has been willing to accept questionable arguments against recalls in the past. Elias seems to be claiming that it places an undue burden on voters, it undermines the republican system and that it is a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act because it disproportionately affects minority voters.

Petitioners need 14412 signatures against Woodhouse by October 31, 14108 against Cannizzaro by November 14 and 7104 against Fairley by November 9.

Nevada has a very strange, possibly unconstitutional, recall law that requires any petition signer to have voted in the previous election.