Rush to wed before Election Day

<p>More than 100 same-sex couples were married at the Sonoma County Clerk's Office in the first two weeks after the law allowed them in June.</p><p>The pace has hardly slowed since, and is reaching a crescendo as the Nov. 4 vote on Proposition 8 -- which would ban gay marriages -- approaches.</p><p>Calls keep coming in from same-sex couples seeking to wed before the election, and the clerk's office is conducting eight to 10 marriages a day, chief deputy county clerk Vicki Petersen said.</p><p>On Oct. 31, which is Halloween and the last Friday before the election, at least 17 couples will be dressed as spouse and spouse for weddings scheduled that day, she said.</p><p>The office is no longer tracking how many of the licenses issued or marriages performed involve same-sex couples.</p><p>Many callers ask about the validity of their vows if the ballot measure is approved after they are wed, and Petersen said she has no answer.</p><p>"There is no definitive answer," said Tara Borelli, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a gay rights advocacy group. "We think these marriages should remain valid."</p><p>And there's a wrinkle on top of that uncertainty, Petersen said.</p><p>In July, August and September, Sonoma County issued 1,266 marriage licenses, a 33 percent increase over the same period in 2007.</p><p>Couples have 90 days to get married after obtaining a license, which must then be returned to the clerk after the ceremony. Nothing on the license indicates the spouses' genders, so there will be no way to identify licenses issued to same-sex couples, Petersen said.</p><p>Marriages conducted by the clerk's office more than doubled from 169 conducted during July-September in 2007 to the 399 in the same three months this year.</p>