Why Does Nevada Have 'None of These Candidates' on the Ballot?

Don’t want the fish or the chicken? Sometimes your choice of candidates in an election is as inspiring as a trade show dinner. Fortunately, you live in Nevada, the first and only state to include the option of “none of these candidates” on the ballot.

👎 When Did ‘None of These Candidates’ Become a Thing?

“None of these candidates,” passed in Assembly Bill 336, was first introduced in 1975 for state and presidential elections in Nevada. “Don Mello and Joe Dini, both rural Democrats, were among those introducing the bill,” UNLV History Professor Michael Green says. “So I'm sure it reflected the rural distrust of the government and the post-Watergate reaction that the government had to be carefully watched.”

🗳️ Has “None of These Candidates” Ever Won?

Yep. Back in 2014, the Democrats were short on viable options to challenge popular Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, leading to a victory by “none of these candidates” in the primary over runner up Robert Goodman.

More recently, “none of these candidates” defeated Nikki Haley in a landslide during the GOP presidential primary earlier this year. (It was a messy situation to begin with as Haley opted for the primary while rival Donald Trump won the caucus. Yes, both took place the same year, but that’s a whole other story.)

“None of these candidates” also won lower-profile races in 1976, 1978, and 1986.

🙄 It’s Not Binding

Technically, “none of these candidates” can't win an election, so the winner goes to the next candidate with the most votes. Think of it as a statement vote more than anything else — or the electoral version of “I’d like a word with your manager.”

However, the option could sway the final result. Senator Harry Reid defeated challenger John Ensign by a little more than 400 votes in 1998. “None of these candidates” won more than 8,000 votes.

⚖️ Has Anyone Challenged It?

The Republican National Committee filed a suit that questioned the constitutionality of the option, but it was rejected by the Federal Appeals Court in 2012.

👀 Has Any Other State Tried This?

Not quite. “One of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco once ran for office there as ‘Nun of the Above,’” Green adds. “We haven't gotten there, at least not yet, although a guy who went by Almighty God ran against Harry Reid in a primary and lost. So I guess Reid was pretty powerful.”