On October 13, several individuals and groups that circulate initiative petitions, or which support the initiative process, filed a federal lawsuit against one Nevada election law. That law requires all petitions (for initiatives, new parties, and independent candidates) to carry a statement by the circulator that “each individual who signed was at the time of signing a registered voter in the county of his or her residence.”

The plaintiffs, who include Citizens in Charge and We the People, say circulators cannot know whether any particular signer is registered. Circulators can and do ask, but the voter’s response may or may not be accurate. Many voters do not actually know if they are registered, or whether their registration is at a current address or a past address. The case is Angle v Miller, 2:09-cv-1969.