Editor's Note: You can call me lazy or call me repetitive or call me tiresome. But I am reposting a column from last cycle, one I have written many times before about my opposition to early voting, which begins Saturday.

I admit to a love-hate relationship with early voting. I am unalterably opposed to the idea, as you will read below. But I love analyzing the data, as I will begin to do Sunday and which greatly informs my reporting and opining.

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Do not early vote.

It begins this weekend, two weeks of people without all the information they need casting ballots — in many cases for people and races they have not followed (Did you know the Clark County district attorney’s race will be decided June 12 and only Democrats will cast ballots?) and in too many contests where new information could surface. Important primaries for governor and Congress are at stake, as well as many down-ballot races.

I confess to a love-hate relationship with early voting: I think it’s terrible for democracy, but the data is useful in discerning trends and predicting outcomes because more than half the vote and sometimes two-thirds is in by Election Day.

But don’t do it. Here’s why:

I know you are tempted.

I know you are tired.

I know you want to.

But don’t do it. Don’t vote early.

For some of you, the ones who voted Saturday or have (unfathomably) waited to read this until after you voted today, it is too late. You have failed America, Nevada, your children.

I know what you’re thinking: I’m crazy for suggesting early voting is not a wonderful way to end the campaign (for you) and allow you to turn off the robocallers and end the get-out-the-vote hectoring. And if you are a Democratic voter or special-interests voter, your blood pressure surely is elevated as the next two weeks are where you (theoretically) build up a lead over Republicans who don’t have unions and other natural allies getting people to the polls. (The GOP also has a barely functional state party, unlike the Democrats, who for the last two presidential cycles have used early voting to destroy the opposition.)

This is not about the presidential contest or the U.S. Senate contest.

I doubt Donald Trump will pull an October Surprise and start sounding Churchillian. It’s unlikely that Hillary Clinton will suddenly describe her email controversy as a “disaster” rather than a “mistake.”

I find it farfetched that Joe Heck will suddenly concede that Catherine Cortez Masto was the finest attorney general ever to serve, nor will she acknowledge he is the best friend senior citizens and women ever had in Congress.

Those races are baked. It’s all about … turnout, whether it’s early or on Nov. 8.

I don’t expect you need much more information on those candidates, although some of you might, which only bolsters my case. But the argument grows stronger as you get down the ballot.

I have long believed that voting should not be a trifle, something you consider as thoughtfully as which brand of pretzel to purchase. Early voting diminishes the importance of the fundamental right in a democratic society. It does not increase participation, but it does decrease knowledge.

There is no good reason – for almost every voter – not to wait until Election Day, so you have the maximum information, including something that could break in the final fortnight. A scandal. A revelation about someone’s character. More information.

You may know all you think you need to know about Trump and Clinton, about Heck and Cortez Masto. (You don’t, but you may think you do because of all the attention and ads.)

But what about the down-ballot races, especially the ones for the Legislature, where both houses are in play and where those contests could be decided by a handful of votes, where your vote could determine who controls the Assembly and Senate? (I kid you not.)

Pop quiz:

How did your lawmaker vote on the stadium project, or how did the candidates in your district feel about it?

Where does your legislator (or candidates where you live) stand on the ballot questions on gun, pot and energy?

What plan does your incumbent (or any would-be Carson City representatives) have to deal with the looming $400 million budget deficit – do taxes need to be raised or could he or she list the cuts that need to be made?

When lawmakers come into session next cycle, they will be confronted with what to do about a school choice law now in purgatory. How will the person who will occupy the seat where you live deal with the question of whether to try to reinstate the program or scuttle it?

Have you looked at the campaign report those running in down-ballot races just filed to see who is funding their campaigns?

That’s just five questions, and there are many more.

I know: You’re busy. You have a job to go to, kids to feed, mindless television to watch. But take the time. Talk to your family, your friends, people in the know. (Sorry, I do not give out my phone number.)

I actually believe Election Day should be a national holiday, so no one has even a lame excuse to avoid voting on that day. But you can still find the time; you can still wait.

I jump up on this hobbyhorse every cycle, and few heed my words. But the truth is the point has never been more relevant than this year, the importance of showing how this country is different than so many others, where people would die – and do die – for the right to choose their leaders.

Never has respecting the voting process been more paramount than in a year during which one major party nominee has mewled that the system is rigged, an awful word to brandish for the bedrock of the Republic. Voting is precious, and voters are not pawns – or should not be used as such, nor allow themselves to be. That’s really what campaigns and some special interests see early voting as an opportunity to exploit.

And this cycle, Donald Trump has told Americans that the system that should be revered is rife with fraud, a pernicious canard that Americans should reject. Voting early diminishes the right that Trump has slandered.

So just wait until Election Day to exercise that sacred duty. You will feel better.

And, more importantly, I will.

This column first appeared in the Reno Gazette-Journal right before the 2016 election. You can change the names, but the point remains just as salient.

Jon Ralston is the editor of The Nevada Independent. He has been covering Nevada politics for more than 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @ralstonreports