Angle could be hurt by ‘none of the above’ option on ballot

“Voter intensity is on our side – only 116,042 Democrats bothered to vote in the U.S. Senate primary, but 175,738 Republicans took the time to cast a vote for the same race,” Stacy said. “Voters in Nevada have had enough of Harry Reid and his failed policies, and that’s why it’s been Harry Reid’s strategy to run these smear attack ads and try and distort Sharron Angle’s record.”

A spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, reached by phone Thursday, did not immediately return a request for comment.

But one well-known Republican in the state expressed bewilderment to The Daily Caller at the number of Republicans who are undecided in the contest, as was on display from private conversations at the funeral for a former Nevada governor, Kenny Guinn, this week.

“I was at his funeral reception yesterday and it blew me away the number of people that told me they didn’t know who to vote for now. They can’t stand either one,” the Republican said of Angle and Reid.

Still, in regards to Angle’s prospects in November, Tarkanian says he’s optimistic, despite Reid’s latest momentum and rise in the polls. “In the long-term, I don’t think enough people will vote for Reid [for him] to win the race… It’s not that people don’t like him, they strongly don’t like him.”

In Nevada, eight candidates — in addition to the “none of these candidates” option — will appear on the ballot, including Reid, Angle, five independent candidates and one Tea Party of Nevada candidate.

Damore, who co-authored a scholarly paper on the subject, said the “none of these candidates” option cannot be declared the victor of a race, though in the past it has brought in the most votes during congressional and presidential primaries. The option, he said, is only included on ballots for federal offices.

While a number of recent polls of the Nevada Senate race do not give respondents the choice to answer “none of these candidates,” a Mason-Dixon poll from earlier this month has “none of these candidates” only taking in five percent, following Reid’s 44 percent and Angle’s 37 percent.

Yet that five percent could play a deciding role in what is expected to be a nail-biter of a contest, Damore said, considering how the margin for victory in past races has been smaller than the “none of these candidates” total.

“I think it certainly can,” the professor said, when asked if it could make a difference in this year’s Senate race between Angle and Reid. “What we find is that it is exactly those types of races where you do see a slight up tick in ‘none of the above’ voting.”