Vote on Election Day

Reflecting over the last few weeks of coverage of the election, it occurs to us that some of our endorsements may have slipped by the occasional reader, and in some races that we reported on but did not endorse, we’d like to add our voice to the cacophony.

We’re not endorsing in most races. In some cases, we’d just be endorsing out of acerbity. In some other instances, we haven’t done any reporting and don’t know the candidates, so your guess is as good as ours. Read the candidate literature on the Washoe County Registrar of Voters’ site, www.co.washoe.nv.us/voters, read the contributions and expenditure reports on the Nevada Secretary of State’s site, sos.state.nv.us/nvelection.

OK, we hope you vote no on Question 1. This legislation does nothing to help schools and will further bog down the legislature.

Vote no on Question 2. We have got to be able to come up with long-term plans for our communities.

Vote no on Question 4. It’s a smoke screen by the casino lobby to confuse the issue of limiting public smoking.

Vote yes on Question 5. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society supports this public-smoking measure.

Vote yes on Question 6. Having a higher minimum wage in Nevada than other states might not only help our residents to make ends meet but give legal U.S. residents reason enough to come here and make it that much harder for illegal residents to find work.

Vote yes on Question 7. Our police have better things to do than to chase casual pot smokers. This would give them the opportunity to put more resources and time into the serious drugs that are destroying our communities, contributing to social ills and uglifying our neighborhoods. Might even put a few tax dollars back in your pocket.

We endorsed Dean Heller over Jill Derby. And, yes, we’re right about that one.

We tepidly endorsed Ross Miller for the secretary of state’s office. We actually feel better about this one than when we made the original, tepid endorsement.

We strongly endorsed Brian Krolicki for lieutenant governor. He’s a good guy who will do a good job.

We endorsed Dina Titus over Jim Gibbons for governor. In the quickest moving state in the country, we need somebody with at least a shred of credibility, industry and integrity to lead us. We really mean this: If you don’t vote for anything else, make your vote count on this one.

If you get the chance, vote for John Emerson for state senator in District 2.

Vote for Larry Wilson in the District F school board race. The incumbent has had 11 years to get things done to improve the district.

In the District C school board race, vote for Barbara Clark. Her opponent talks operations; Clark is concerned about students.

Finally, if you don’t know a particular race well enough to make an informed decision, don’t vote in that race. It’s fine, just move past it. The problem is, voters who don’t know races are likely to vote for the candidate with the highest name recognition. That means they have the most money. That money came from somewhere that has an agenda. Do not just vote “none of these candidates;” that just siphons votes away from the non-incumbents.