Absentee ballots are in the mail

The Navajo Election Administration received its first shipment of ballots for the upcoming primary late Tuesday afternoon and began mailing out absentee ballots on Wednesday, a little less than three weeks before the Aug. 3 election.

The ballots were delayed until the Navajo Nation Supreme Court ruled on whether President Joe Shirley Jr. could run for a third term. On July 9 the court upheld the two-term limit, meaning Shirley will not be on the ballot.

With the election process twice delayed by court challenges this year, election officials were talking about postponing the primary to give candidates more time to campaign and absentee voters, particularly Navajos stationed overseas in the military, time to return their ballots.

However, the election office decided instead to hold the election as originally scheduled.

This gives absentee voters, who in recent elections have comprised up to 10 percent of the voters, three weeks to receive their ballots and get them back in time to be counted.

Edison Wauneka, director of the election office, said not very many requests for absentee ballots were received this year, as is normal for an off-year election.

"We get a lot of requests for absentee ballots in the general election," he said, adding that most people should receive their absentee ballot by mail within four days.

This week's shipment of ballots provides 150 ballots per chapter for absentee and early voting. Wauneka said that should meet the demand until the main shipment of ballots arrives the week before the primary.

Early voting begins Friday, July 16, and Wauneka said the election office and its branches also will be open the next two Saturdays, July 17 and July 24, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate early voting. The last day for early voting (in person) is Friday, July 30.

It's too late to file a new candidate challenge, Wauneka said, adding that several people raised that issue since the June 26 arrest of Pernell Halona of Tohatchi, N.M., who is running for council in the Bahastl'ah/Coyote Canyon/Mexican Springs/Naschitti/Tohatchi district.

Navajo Nation Police and members of the Middle Rio Grande Valley Task Force raided Halona's home and said they seized 179 marijuana plants there.

The case is still pending, however, and Wauneka said the law that excludes convicted felons from running would not apply since Halona hasn't had his day in court yet.

For that reason, his name will stay on the ballot. If he makes it to the November runoff and wins the seat, his election could be challenged if he is convicted of a felony, Wauneka said.

One council candidate, incumbent Philip Harrison (Cove/Red Mesa), was challenged and disqualified based on the felon rule, which states that no one convicted of a felony within the past five years of an election can run.

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