How they affect New Mexico

Voting by mail will be the choice for many voters this election season.

In McKinley County that will be possible despite the contentious climate that surrounds the practice in some parts of the country.

USPS Communications Specialist Rod Spurgeon said all letter mail in New Mexico gets processed in a single place — at the Albuquerque Processing and Distribution Center where he works. That is also where the sorting machines are located.

Spurgeon told the Gallup Sun Aug. 18 that two sorting machines have been powered down at the processing center.

A delivery barcode sorter like the one pictured above, has a maximum processing capacity of 36K mail pieces...

The McKinley County Board of Commissioners discussed a resolution about the locations of Election Day polling places for all upcoming statewide elections during their Aug. 18 meeting.

McKinley County Bureau of Elections Manager Marlene Custer spoke about the item.

“This resolution makes it so the [voting center at] Thoreau Fire Station will be moving to the Thoreau Public Safety Building,” Custer said. “And then all the rural precincts will be designated a voting convenience center.”

The next step is to ensure these voting locations have the capability to allow people to securely vote on Election Day.

“We are testing all of the sites now, like the Navajo Nation...

Flags were flown at half staff

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer issued a proclamation calling for flags on the Nation to be flown at half-staff Aug. 19, in honor and memory of Earnest C. Becenti, Sr., who died on Aug. 16.

“As we mourn the loss of Earnest C. Becenti, Sr., we also honor and remember all his great sacrifices and services he provided for his Navajo people. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues as they lay him to rest today [Aug. 19],” Nez said.

Earnest was born on March 9, 1925, and was a community member of Church Rock, N.M. He was married for 69 years to his wife, Mary Becenti...

Plans to incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center has a new executive director. Dr. Virginia Necochea, who started Aug. 1, will be maintaining relationships with staff, community, the center board, funders, and donors, among other things.

Necochea, who hails from southeast Los Angeles, and has Mexican indigenous ancestry, moved to New Mexico in 1998 for a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies at the University of New Mexico. There she found herself drawn to engage in water protection and acequias in her new community.

Acequias are irrigation canals that serve the Southwest and were traditionally used in...