Marijuana Policy Project

LAS VEGAS — A federal judge on Monday threw out Nevada's initiative-petition requirements that attempted to compensate for different population sizes in urban and rural counties.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip Pro in Las Vegas said the rules are unconstitutional and ordered Secretary of State Ross Miller not to enforce them.

The ruling was not expected to affect the general election in November, when four ballot questions will be put to Nevada voters, down from about a dozen citizen initiatives that were either withdrawn by their backers or scrapped by the courts for failing to meet other requirements.

Monday's ruling struck down the so-called "County Population Rule," which forced petition-gatherers to obtain signatures from 10 percent of voters in each county, rather than 10 percent statewide. The raw number of signatures required is based on turnout from the previous general election.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the complaint along with the Marijuana Policy Project and four individuals, complained the law gave signatures from rural voters more power than those of urban voters.

They said the law approved by the 2007 Legislature is no better than another initiative-petition law struck down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

For example, if voters in one county were overwhelmingly against a certain petition, it could be kept from the ballot under the rule even if enough voters from other counties supported it.

Miller's office, along with the Nevada Resort Association, argued the rule was necessary to keep urban areas from dominating the initiative process.

"Even if statewide support is a compelling government interest, the county population rule is not narrowly tailored to serve that objective," Pro said in his ruling. "One voter's vote in Clark County under the county population rule weighs substantially less than one voter's vote in any other Nevada county."

Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and its suburbs, is Nevada's most populous county with roughly two-thirds of the state's voters.

A spokesman for Miller's office said it was reviewing its legal options with the state attorney general's office but had not determined whether it would appeal.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a group that has unsuccessfully tried to win voter approval for measures dealing with the drug, urged Miller not to appeal, saying the state has "better things to do."