Monsoon closes Navajo County vote center at Black Mesa

WINDOW ROCK

Monsoon rains made Black Mesa’s dirt roads slick and impassable Tuesday, prompting Navajo County to close its vote center at Black Mesa Chapter and redirect voters to Forest Lake or Piñon chapters for federal, state and county primary races.

The closure did not affect Navajo Nation voting. The Nation’s polling place at Black Mesa Chapter remained open.

Residents who wanted to vote in both elections had to visit the chapter house for the Navajo Nation primary, then travel to another community to cast a county ballot.

The Black Mesa Chapter House was one of 39 vote centers Navajo County designated for the primary, according to the county elections office’s polling place list.

Navajo County Elections Director Rayleen Richards confirmed the closure Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s not being moved, it’s being closed,” Richards said. “They’re just reverting the poll workers or voters to Forest Lakes or Piñon. So it’s closed.”

Navajo County used vote centers for the primary, allowing voters to cast ballots at any county polling site.

“Navajo County is a vote center county, so you can vote anywhere in Navajo County. That’s how we’re set up. So voters can go anywhere. They don’t have to go to their original precinct,” Richards said.

The county’s emergency plan listed Forest Lake Chapter House as the first backup location for Black Mesa, followed by Piñon and Low Mountain chapter houses.

The polling place list directed voters about 20 miles north of Piñon along Navajo routes N41 and N8066, past Black Mesa Community School, to reach the Black Mesa Chapter House.

Richards said every other Navajo County polling site remained open.

“They’re getting rained on, but we’re not closing them because their roads are fine,” she said. “Everybody else is open other than Black Mesa.”

Veronica Curley, the interim executive director for the Navajo Nation Election Administration, said the Nation’s polling operations were not affected by the county’s decision.

“It’s only for Navajo County. Ours were remaining in place,” Curley said.

Scattered power outages affected some areas Tuesday, but service had been restored, Curley said. Her office also had a manual backup process available if voting machines or electrical service failed.

Curley said redirecting Black Mesa voters did not eliminate the difficulty created by the muddy roads.

“If they move it out to Forest Lake and Pinon, yes, it’s still going to be a problem for the voters that live in Black Mesa. They still have to travel out to those two locations. That’s just my thought,” she said.

Jonathan Nez, a candidate for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District and a former Navajo Nation president, previously represented the Black Mesa area as a Navajo County supervisor.

“If you know the area, it’s got that clay, sand, dirt. When it gets wet, it gets slippery, and that’s a big concern,” Nez said. “This morning, we were encouraging people to vote early in the day because these monsoon weathers would be hitting us, and it’s hitting us now into the evening.”

To read the full article, please see the July 23, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

---