SJC reverses policy on mail-in ballots
Ballots are recounted in the conference room of the Election Administration Office on Thursday. The recount was prompted by the Shirley administration. (Times photo-Stacy Thacker)
CHINLE
Voters in San Juan County, Utah, will be able to vote either by mail or in person in the next county commission election, County Clerk John David Nielson confirmed Wednesday.
He added the change has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed last month by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission.
“We had taken some time to figure things out as far as what would be the best way to do things,” Nielson said.
Everyone will get a ballot in the mail, Nielson explained, but it will be their choice whether to mail it in or take it to one of four polling places: Monticello, Montezuma Creek, Oljato or Navajo Mountain.
If they lose their ballot, one will be provided at the polling place, Nielson said.
The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission on Feb. 25 sued the county over its closure of rural polling places in favor of mail-in ballots.
In 2014, the county closed all polling places except the county offices in Monticello, Utah, sending out thousands of mail-in ballots instead.
The HRC says the mail-in ballots deprive many Navajos — including those who don’t speak English, those who don’t drive and those who only sporadically pick up their mail — of exercising their right to vote.
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