Update: Gay Marriage Ban Passes in California

Wednesday, 11/5: It was a squeaker, but California has voted to make gay marriage unconstitutional. When the final tally shakes out the numbers will be something like 52% to 48%.

For an update on all California's ballot measures, click here.

Out here in California voting can sometimes seem more like a homework assignment than a civic duty. That's because in addition to all the candidates to choose from, there is a host of state ballot measures the public has to mull over. This year there's a baker's dozen of propositions, dealing with everything from parole to conditions for farm animals to alternative fuels. Each has passionate supporters and dissenters but none have sparked more debate than Proposition 8. In fact, even if you don't live here you probably know that Proposition 8 would ban gay marriage in California.

Along with the presidential race, the fight over gay marriage is among nation's most closely watched contests. Volunteers from around the country have staffed phone banks, and campaign contributions have come from every state in the nation to the "no" campaign, and every state but Vermont to the "yes" side.

The two sides raised nearly $74 million and blanketed the airwaves for weeks with expensive television and radio commercials.

The battle also has been waged on street corners and front lawns, from the pulpits of churches and synagogues and -- unusual for a fight over a social issue -- in the boardrooms of many of the state's largest corporations.

The fight has gone from ugly (dueling demonstrators in screaming matches in the street) to the downright surreal (comedian Sacha Baron Cohen aka Borat aka Bruno crashing a "Yes on 8" rally).

Late polls have shown "No on 8" voters with a slight edge. (Those are the ones for gay marriage; the wording of the measure is confusing to say the least, and because of it some people are sure to vote the opposite way they intended.) But some experts say we could see a variation of the Bradley Effect, with voters not admitting they're against gay marriage but then voting against it in private.

No matter how the vote turns out, Californians will just be relieved to have an end to the endless stream of Prop. 8 advertising and propagandizing, pro and con, in every conceivable form of media.