Pro-voucher ads urge voters not to let a national teachers union tell them how to vote next Tuesday, yet the pro-voucher movement itself is receiving three-fourths of its funds from one man — Park City millionaire Patrick Byrne.

"I don't know if this would even be a fair fight" in Utah "if it were not for (Byrne's cash) put into this game," said state Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, a founder of one pro-voucher group, called the Informed Voter Project, created by the Utah Legislature's GOP leadership.

Between the Parents For Choice in Education political issue committee, run by pro-voucher advocates, and Hughes' IVP, Byrne (along with his family and a foundation he helps to direct) has donated more than $3 million to the pro-voucher movement, new financial reports show.

That matches the $3 million or so that the National Education Association, a national teachers union, has put into its anti-voucher campaign here. The NEA gave money to the Utah Education Association, the state's largest teacher union, which in turn gave money to Utahns For Public Schools, the main PIC that funded the main anti-voucher campaign.

Contributions to groups on both sides total nearly $8 million, pre-election reports show. But more money than that will undoubtedly be spent before Election Day, as last-minute ad and voter-contact campaigns rush to a close.

The Informed Voter Project will have to ask Byrne for more money to pay for a huge, 250,000-piece mailer that will be sent out this weekend, Hughes says. That mailing will cost about $100,000, said Hughes, and the $65,000 in cash left in his PIC is already committed to other expenses.

Some politicos estimate that perhaps only 250,000 Utahns will vote statewide on the voucher issue, listed as Referendum No. 1 on Tuesday's ballot. And so Hughes' last-minute effort could have some effect on the race, he believes.

This is a municipal election year. Referendum No. 1 is the only statewide issue, although a number of towns and cities have local races and a few counties have countywide ballot questions as well. Still, for many Utahns, Referendum No. 1 will be the only issue on their ballots.

The new reports show that Byrne, president and chairman of the board of Overstock.com, a Web-based retail buying operation, has donated, along with his family, $2.9 million to PCE. That donation is 78 percent of the PIC's overall contributions.