As most of you know, the general election for Clark County is on Election Day: November 8, 2016. Although it is generally easy to choose from among the candidates for the state legislature, it is often very difficult to make heads or tails of the judicial candidates. Our judicial selection system is a perfect storm of large districts and non-partisan elections, which means that we may see a large number of candidates on the ballot but have little or no information about any of them. To assist you, I’ve assembled some information that may be helpful as you make you Primary 2016 choices.
Those of you who have seen my previous voter guides may notice that I have not included links to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s biennial “Judging the Judges” performance evaluation survey results. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I’ve demonstrated the problems with these surveys in popular outlets here, here, and here, in reports here and here, and in scholarly articles here and here. My results have been discussed here, here, and here (although the reporter willfully mischaracterized my argument in this article). However, the full reports can still be a source of useful information for voters, provided that voters interpret them with caution. But the biggest reason I haven’t included this information here is that the “Judging the Judges” survey seems to have disappeared completely from the LVRJ servers in the last couple of months. If anyone can find them, please let me know.
The information I have included here reflects what many voters find helpful in making their decisions. I do want to note, however, that my inclusion of a piece of information here does not necessarily mean that it is our should be relevant to voter decisions. Instead, I’ve taken my cues from what many voters seem to express an interest in. Much of the content of that follows was assembled from the LVRJ’s 2016 Voter Guide, Martindale, and the Nevada Secretary of State. To find out more information about who donated to each candidate, please visit the Secretary of State’s Contribution Search page and enter the name of the judge in the “Recipient Name” field.
The information provided below is up to date as of 10/21/2016, and is accurate to the best of my ability. I will keep information about any updates I make at the bottom of the page. If you become aware of inaccuracies or updates, please contact me at rebecca.gill@unlv.edu. I will continue to update this with additional information as it becomes available, so be sure to check back!
- Supreme Court Seat A
- Supreme Court Seat E
- Appeals Court Dept 1
- Appeals Court Dept 2
- Appeals Court Dept 3
- District Court Dept 15
- District Court Dept 20
- Justice of the Peace: Henderson Dept 1
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 3
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 4
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 6
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 7
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 9
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 13
- Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept 14
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Supreme Court Seat A
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Hardesty, Jim (uncontested)
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Supreme Court Seat E
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Parraguirre, Ron D. (uncontested)
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Appeals Court Dept 1
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Tao, Jerry (uncontested)
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Appeals Court Dept 2
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Gibbons, Michael (uncontested)
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Appeals Court Dept 3
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Silver, Abbi (uncontested)
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District Court Dept 15
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Gale, Bruce L
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Hardy, Jr., Joe (incumbent–interim appointee)
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District Court Dept 20
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Johnson, Eric (incument–interim appointee)
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Levy, Anat “Anette”
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Justice of the Peace: Henderson Dept. 1
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Bateman, Sam
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Davidson, Michael
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Gruber, Harvy
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Nathan, Gayle
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Posin, Jeffrey
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Zeller, Shane
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 3
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Letizia, Harmony
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Marshall, Janiece (incumbent)
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 4
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Candelaria, Amber
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Saragosa, Melissa A. (incumbent)
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 6
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Kern, Rebecca
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Yeager, Bita (incumbent–interim appointment)
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 7
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Bennett, Karen (incumbent)
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Ginn, Vincent “Vinny”
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 9
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Bonaventure, Joe (incumbent)
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Kurth, Robert
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 13
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Bachman, Shana
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Baucum, Suzan (incumbent)
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Justice of the Peace: Las Vegas Dept. 14
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Chelini, Amy “JoAnne”
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Hafen, Conrad (incumbent)
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Updated 10/23/2016 to adjust formatting and to add incumbency information.
