By Jackie Valley/The Nevada Independent

Secretary of State  said her office was not consulted about the fate of two tax petitions and ultimately did not agree with Attorney General Aaron Ford’s opinion — triggering a rare circumstance in which she wrote him a letter saying the petitions should remain on the 2022 ballot.

The situation involves gaming and sales tax initiatives put forward and qualified by the Clark County Education Association last year. But the union was expected to withdraw the petitions after a last-minute deal in the legislative session that pumped more money toward education through a mining tax increase.

Ford issued an opinion in late July green-lighting that plan, writing in an opinion that “the Nevada Constitution does not prevent the proponents of  an initiative petition from withdrawing the petition.”

That didn’t sit right with Cegavske, whose office is charged with overseeing elections.

“After many years in the Nevada legislature, I knew immediately that the actions of the LCB were outside of the scope of the NV Constitution,” she wrote in a statement to The Nevada Independent. “Our office was not contacted by anyone as to our interpretation of our duties. My staff and I reviewed the AGO opinion and decided it was not aligned with our position.”

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