Consumers have learned the old adage "caveat emptor," but somehow in this Internet era, voters often don't proceed with much caution.

And unlike a faulty DVD player or a used car that won't run, elections don't come with a money back guarantee. The closest thing to a lemon law for Nevada elections is the ability to recall an official. Sort of like a voter mulligan.

As uninformed voters fan out across four local cities to cast early ballots for the upcoming municipal election, most candidates are doing their able best to keep crucial knowledge away from the electorate.

The state's campaign laws only aid and abet the hypocritical behavior by the three candidates for the Ward 1 Las Vegas City Council seat. Neither the incumbent Lois Tarkanian nor her two challengers, Lori Bisch and Shawn Spanier, will provide an early glimpse at who is funding their campaigns.

Each told my colleague David McGrath Schwartz that they couldn't divulge such secrets at risk of having the information used by an opponent who was not going to return the favor by disclosing his or her campaign backers.

Beyond their backgrounds, few details of a City Council candidate's resume are as important as who gave them money and how it was spent. And since Bisch has suggested the incumbent is guilty of a little pay-to-play action on the council, the data has never been more critical.

The actual campaign reports are due next Tuesday, a full 10 days into the early voting period and after roughly 25 to 30 percent of all votes are cast this cycle.

The three candidates actually said, with straight faces no less, that they were supremely ethical and wanted to abide with the spirit of the law. One even intended to reform the system if elected, although given the lack of home rule, it seems doubtful there is much the City Council can do to reform municipal election disclosures.

There is no reason in 2007 for a voter to go to the polls without a full array of information.

Bisch claims Tarkanian is beholden to special interests because she has accepted money from influential insider Jay Brown and has voted several times on issues he was backing, although none was in her ward. Tarkanian claims Bisch is being fronted by Tarkanian's political opponents, most notably golf course developer Bill Walters.

Those are easy claims to make when you're walking door-to-door or speaking to a community group. But there's no way to verify the allegations without the disclosures. Bisch and Spanier said they have not received contributions from Walters. That may be true. But Ward 1 voters would be wise to wait until the data is available. With any luck, they could still vote early after the disclosures are made.

It's hard to get a do-over, as many recent political races prove. How many voters are kicking themselves for putting Elizabeth Halverson on the bench? It's not as if they weren't warned. But District Court just doesn't have the panache of a sheriff's race. And while voters seemed to get the message (probably thanks to all those front-page stories and television exposes) about sheriff candidate Jerry Airola last cycle, they rather recklessly threw Halverson into a real job with real consequences.

Now she's making the world safe for sex offenders.

Judge, unlike City Council member, is a real job. You screw up on the bench and a man accused of sexually assaulting his teenage daughter for months gets away with house arrest.

Review-Journal court reporter K.C. Howard detailed some of the questions about Halverson's competency in Monday's paper. She's talking to jurors outside the presence of attorneys. She doesn't understand sentencing guidelines.

"You get elected and you're just thrown in there and expected to know everything about every single matter, and honestly, I don't," Halverson told Howard. "I'm not perfect. It takes time to learn everything."

Howard didn't even raise the health questions that others are pointing out about the judge, who requires both oxygen and a wheelchair to perform her duties.

The stakes are too high to make too many mistakes at the polls. It's one thing to elect a recorder such as Fran Deane who looks and acts nice enough at first glance on the campaign trail only to turn out to be an unethical, mentally unstable tyrant in ruby slippers. The cops caught up with Deane, but Halverson's not breaking the law from the bench. She's just torturing it.

During last week's basketball games there were numerous ads imploring viewers to "celebrate responsibly." We seem to understand that it's bad to drink and drive, but we don't take much time to think about our actions in the voting booth.

There's a difference between voting for a political viewpoint and voting for competence. Just look at the last governor's race.

Vote responsibly.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.