Senate committee hears bill to impose $1,000 presidential preference primary filing fee

The Nevada Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections held a hearing on Senate Bill 225, a measure that would require major-party candidates who file for the presidential preference primary to pay a $1,000 filing fee to the Office of the Secretary of State.

Sen. James Ohrenschall, sponsor of the measure and chair of the interim committee on legislative operations and elections, said the proposal grew out of a post-primary review and a unanimous interim committee recommendation. "The absence of a filing fee for candidates at the presidential preference primary ... allows virtually an unlimited number of candidates to file which risks increasing ballot costs substantially if the ballot were to be 2 or more pages long due to a very long list of candidates," Ohrenschall said. He told the committee the proposed $1,000 fee is comparable to fees in other states and would be on the lower end of those charges.

Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Mark Woloshen told the committee the fee would be collected only by the Secretary of State's office during the 15-day filing period in October before a presidential preference primary. "Because the presidential preference primary only files in the office of the secretary of state, this fee would only be received in the office of the secretary of state in the October before a presidential preference primary during that 15 day filing period," Woloshen said.

Supporters who testified said the fee would reduce frivolous filings and lower administrative costs. Ryan Vortish, Northern Nevada democracy coordinator for Silver State Voices and a member of the Let Nevadan Vote Coalition, said he supported SB225 "because it's the reason we support the bill and urge you all to do so as well." Chanel Castanello, identified in the record as a campaign manager for an organization she referred to as "Offloading of Global Action Nevada," told the committee SB225 "creates a fair filing system, reduces the number of unserious candidate filings, and also reduces costs."

Ohrenschall summarized the interim committee's review, noting comparative filing fees in other states cited during that discussion: Colorado ($500), Montana ($17.50), Vermont ($2,000), Mississippi and West Virginia ($2,500), Oklahoma ($5,000) and Kansas ($10,000). He said those figures informed the committee's recommendation for a $1,000 fee for Nevada.

The committee took public testimony in support of the bill and recorded no opposition or neutral testimony. No committee vote or formal action on SB225 was recorded at the hearing; the committee closed the hearing and proceeded to the next agenda item.

Procedural notes from the hearing record: the committee requested paper copies of handouts (20 copies) for in-person attendees and asked that electronic copies be submitted in PDF to the Committee Manager at least 24 hours before a hearing. The Secretary of State's office confirmed the fee, if enacted, would be handled by that office during the statutory filing window for presidential preference primary candidates.

The committee hearing record indicates the interim committee unanimously voted to request the legislation that became SB225; the hearing produced testimony in support and no recorded committee vote on the measure.