Tea Party ballot mistake could throw small wrench in Nevada election

RGJ

By Susan Voyles • [e-mail]•
October 24, 2010

Correcting an error for abbreviating the tea party in the WashoeCounty Voter Registrar's guide could throw a little wrench in the election for the U.S. Senate in Nevada.

In the newsprint portion of the voter's guide, the party abbreviation for Tea Party of Nevada candidate Scott Ashjian is erroneously listed as TPA. But the Tea Party of Nevada is correctly listed as TPN on the sample ballot itself, where all the candidates and races are listed as they appear on the official ballot.

To correct the error, Registrar of Voters Dan Burk on Oct. 16 put placards explaining that the Tea Party of Nevada is TPN on the ballot at early voting polling sites. This also will be done on Election Day, he said.

Voters can also ask poll workers for the Tea Party of Nevada candidate. Poll workers have been instructed to identify the name and party -- but not to point to it on the ballot.

Ashjain requested TPN appear on the ballot, Burk said.

So what?

Well, voters wanting to vote for the Tea Party of Nevada candidate will be directed to that candidate. That means some confused U.S. Senate voters might not just throw up their hands and vote for former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, the conservative Republican candidate supported by elements of the tea party movement. That's a disadvantage to Angle.

The camp for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., meanwhile, might be concerned that the ballot lists the Tea Party of Nevada as TPN. Confused Tea Party of Nevada supporters not seeing the little placards could still throw up their hands in frustration and vote for Angle.

In rural counties, Tea Party of Nevada is not abbreviated on the ballot.

Ashjian, whose candidacy threatens to drain votes from Angle, has been denounced by state tea party leaders who say he has no connection to the movement. He has called critics "cowards and sheep."

Officials for the Reid and Angle camps did not have a comment Tuesday.

True Tea Party of Nevada supporters will know their candidate and will vote for him said Fred Lokken, a Truckee Meadows Community College political science professor. "A little label is not going to confuse them."

"I think it's a pretty minor error myself," given all the problems the registrar faces in overseeing a fairly robust and complicated election, he said.

Eric Herzik, a University of Nevada, Reno political science professor, said trying to sift through all this to find an advantage for either side is much too complicated. But he said he'll bet whomever loses will use it as an argument as to why he or she lost.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.