Editorial: Early voting ends some lame excuses

Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

The school year began Monday, which means the return of the perennial excuses that children will make if they don't turn in their homework, such as the classic "the dog ate it." Every two years too many adults use a variation of this theme when they say why they didn't vote. The common refrain is that they couldn't find the time to do so, which is as bad as blaming the household pet for their failure.

But with the convenience of early voting, there really is no excuse as to why someone doesn't cast his ballot. Until Sept. 1 people can vote early in this year's primary elections at sundry locations -- malls, supermarkets, community centers, libraries and other places. Recently Nevada has ranked near the bottom in voter turnout, so it's long overdue to reverse this embarrassing trend. Besides, so many of us made the time to watch the two-hour "Survivor" finale, the least we can do is take the half hour or so necessary to vote in the primary elections.

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