Gibbons and Townsend seek repeal of 1997 election law

Under terms of a 1997 state law, Gibbons qualified for the no-opponent status by getting just over half the votes in the Republican primary.

The law was passed at the request of Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora who said he was forced into expensive and meaningless general elections twice after winning more than three-quarters of the primary vote.

Gibbons, wife of Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will be joined in sponsoring the repeal by Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno.

She said the new law is bad because "it disenfranchises thousands of voters who are not registered with a particular political party from having a choice between two people in the general election."

Under the law, if two candidates from one party file for an office, they don't meet until the general election. But if three candidates file from one party, there's a primary to reduce the field to two finalists.

Historically, the two top vote-getters met in the general. But under the change a candidate with more than half the primary votes is the only one to advance to the general.

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