Morandi new elections deputy

Susan Morandi likes challenges.

This summer, for example, she's training for her first marathon.

And just a couple of weeks ago she accepted the job of running the secretary of state's Elections Division.

Morandi, 27, has no doubt she's up to both tasks. But being named to replace Pamela Crowell as chief deputy for elections is taking up most of her attention right now.

"In the past week and a half, there has not been one day that's gone by that hasn't had a new question raised," she said.

"An interesting question. And as the elections get closer and the Legislature gets closer, it's going to be more and more exciting."

Morandi, who was finishing a year clerking for U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben when Secretary of State Dean Heller offered the job, said even though election issues can be touchy, she'll be ready for whatever happens.

"It's unpredictable," she said. "That's part of what makes it fun, makes it exciting and makes it very interesting."

But she says the American democratic process isn't that hard to understand and shouldn't be.

"The beauty about democracy is that it's not that complicated once you see it and experience it," she said.

She says being a lawyer should at least help her understand the laws that govern the conduct of candidates, how elections are held, ballots counted and outcomes determined.

But she admits there isn't much time for her to get up to speed.

"I was thrown in running," she said. "I've spent more time in Nevada Revised Statutes than I think I ever did before."

Her initial reaction is similar to what a number of candidates have said over the years: "Organizationally, the election laws are a mess."

She said, however, she isn't planning to call for any major changes at this early point, that she just wants to understand the details well enough to help candidates and the public with questions.

In that regard, she said, everyone from the elections staff to the attorney general's office has been very helpful so far.

She took the job because, "I'm interested in the electoral process and democracy.

"We have so many freedoms that you do not see in any other country"

Before clerking for McKibben, she spent a year clerking for Carson District Judge Mike Fondi.

"Clerking, you're getting an incredible education," she said. "You get to see both sides, the good and bad, how decisions are made rather than just a slice of the pie."

She said she thinks her new job in elections will be just as enlightening.

Raised in Elko, she received her degree from Santa Clara School of Law. While this is her first job with political overtones, it's not her first exposure to politics. Her father, Bill Bilyeu, served two terms in the Nevada Assembly from Elko, including as speaker in 1985.

But she says she has no desire to run for elective office.

The only running she has planned, she says, is a half-marathon in San Francisco the first week of July in preparation for a full marathon in October in Portland.

"At least that's the plan right now," she said.