Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 9:32 a.m.
When early voting ends tonight, roughly half of Clark County voters will likely have cast ballots for Tuesday's election.
A total of 116,771 have voted early so far with early voting setting to end tonight at 9 at the mall sites and earlier in the day at some of the other locations.
Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said he expects about 135,000 voters to cast early ballots by the close of the program tonight. When coupled with the 20,000 absentee ballots already collected, that will likely equal the Election Day take.
Lomax estimates about 55 percent of registered voters will take part in the election, up slightly from the 53 percent who voted in the 1998 gubernatorial election.
If you don't get to the polls by tonight you'll have to wait for Nov. 5. Questions? Call the county election department at 455-8683 (455-VOTE).
Scary campaign
Pedophilia is scarier than most of the Halloween costumes worn around last night.
And that's exactly what the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage wants to use to scare voters into voting yes on Question 2.
Richard Ziser, the leader of the coalition, sent an e-mail to supporters this week saying a new emphasis in his campaign highlighting teaching same-sex unions in schools is polling well.
"This emphasis is the result of our polling that showed a significant move in our direction when voters understand what will be taught in our schools, as a result of state recognition of same-sex marriage," Ziser wrote in his Tuesday e-mail before bashing both this writer and Sun columnist Jon Ralston for columns in last Sunday's Sun.
Ziser's e-mails have reach if some of the folks who called this reporter Tuesday afternoon to say "Burn in hell, pervert" are any indication.
So it's no stretch to believe that the new mailer warning of the same-sex union teachings that the coalition claims is now occurring in Vermont. "It's happening in Vermont right now, and homosexual activists want to export that system to us here in Nevada."
The mailer also mentions how sex-ed in Vermont now involves "instructions for both heterosexual and homosexual interaction."
Liz Moore of Equal Rights Nevada, the group opposing Question 2, says the campaign is meant to imply pedophilia (you know, gay men engaging in sex with young boys.)
But getting back to the ballot question -- the one that's supposed to be about protecting marriage -- the coalition does remind voters in its mailer that they should approve the 18-word change to the state Constitution.
After all, the coalition writes: "Let's not experiment with Nevada's children."
Endorsement flap
Politicians love to crow about their endorsements about as much as they love to complain about the endorsements their opponent doesn't have.
But the lieutenant governor's race still has some folks scratching their head about who backs whom.
Hunter's Alert, a statewide outdoorsman's group, fired off a press release Wednesday complaining about an ad Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt ran in Las Vegas newspapers listing an endorsement from the National Rifle Association, which the national organization's website did not list.
But a quick call to the NRA came complete with an apology to Hunt and a letter she can show people to prove she's endorsed.
The endorsement she doesn't have, although she hyped it in an ad, is from the Asian American Political Action Committee.
That PAC endorsed her in the Republican primary but is not supporting her in the general election race against Democrat Erin Kenny.
Hunt's campaign consultant Steve Forsythe said the error was his and that a new ad will be running this weekend to straighten out the endorsement mix-up.
Televised family feature
The local NBC affiliate, KVBC Channel 3, has taped pieces with congressional candidates sharing dinner with local non-partisan families.
But the 3rd Congressional District pieces featuring Jon Porter and Dario Herrera aren't expected to run because, as of now, there is no Herrera piece.
Channel 3 is only saying that things got too late to coordinate a taping, but a station source familiar with the feature says they just couldn't find anyone to break bread with Herrera.
The official word from the Herrera campaign is that the day Herrera was supposed to tape the feature, the station "still hadn't found a family." The replacement family that was suggested turned out to be volunteers on the Herrera campaign.
That typically would have gone unnoticed except for a family member's appearance in one of Herrera's TV commercials that could have aired right after the segment.
For the record, Porter spent hours with the family the station picked for him and even chatted over apple pie after the crew left.
Extra credit
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is always quick with statements on the passage of bills, on days honoring veterans and on things that make the state proud.
So it was little wonder that Gibbons took part in Nevada Day celebrations last week with most of the state's other public officials when the state celebrated Nevada's entrance into the Union.
But he also marked the official Nevada Day, Oct. 31, with a press release crowing about the state's birthday.
For the record
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