Judicial Candidates Sue Nevada

LAS VEGAS (CN) - Three attorneys seeking a family court judgeship accuse Nevada election officials of unfairly favoring the incumbent by listing her first on the ballot and tacking the word "incumbent" after her name.

Secretary of State Ross Miller directed election officials in January to add the word "incumbent" after Judge Lisa Kent's name on the ballot in an apparent attempt to avoid voter confusion since one of her challengers, Jamie Kent, has the same last name.

Everyone else will be grouped alphabetically on the ballot for the November election. No other incumbent vying for a Clark County District Court judgeship will have the word "incumbent" next to his or her name, according to the lawsuit.

Jamie Kent and two others competing for Lisa Kent's seat, Michelle Mercer and Kenneth Pollack, say in their pro se lawsuit in Clark County Court that they're being discriminated against, and that the decision "is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion."

Voters will decide in November who gets the six-year judgeship.

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