Happy election day!
Yup. It's time to vote. For extra motivation, here is an essay by writer Rebecca Solnit on why you should. On today's Santa Fe ballots, depending on where you live, you may get to rank candidates in District 4 for the Santa Fe City Council, or choose between candidates in the Santa Fe Public Schools Board race. Today's ballot also has an uncontested race for City of Santa Fe municipal judge, as well as two seats on the Santa Fe Community College's Governing Board. Voters can cast ballots today from 7 am to 7 pm at designated Voting Convenience Centers. Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar tells SFR her office has hired 200 poll workers for today, and has a plan to speed up reporting of election results after polls close. SFR will have those numbers for you just as soon as we can!
Unified front
Both of New Mexico's US senators have endorsed US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan's 2020 bid to succeed US Sen. Tom Udall, who will not seek re-election. Both Udall and Martin Heinrich yesterday voiced their support of Lujan, currently the only Democrat seeking the seat, following Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver's withdrawal from the race last week. Toulouse Oliver also has endorsed Lujan's bid. Udall said of Lujan that he believes "He will continue the hard work of reforming and strengthening our democracy, ending the reign of dark, secret money in our politics, and protecting our public lands and combating climate change." Of Udall, Lujan tweeted that he "has served New Mexico with courage and he leaves big shoes to fill in the U.S. Senate. I'm honored to have his support as we work to continue his legacy of leadership on public lands, combatting climate change, and getting big money out of politics."
GOP sues over early votes
The state Republican Party, along with Las Cruces mayoral candidate Mike Tellez, have filed a lawsuit state's 3rd Judicial District Court asking that some of the absentee ballots in Dona Aña County not be counted pending a legal ruling, saying some of them are missing required information, such as names, addresses and dates of birth. Defendants in the suit include Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin and the absentee voter board of Doña Ana County. Republicans have employed a strategy of using voter ID requirements to restrict voting around the country. This has been shown to predominantly impact minority communities.
Tierra Contenta mas
Plans for development of Tierra Contenta's third phase will be discussed this week at public meetings ($TNM). The master planning for 227 currently wild acres could ultimately create 1,175 homes of some sort. Sharing these details with the public is the current focus for The Housing Trust subsidiary Tierra Contenta Corp. Housing Trust Executive Director Justin Robison says at this point planners are primarily "…making sure we have the right message from the public." The City of Santa Fe launched Tierra Contenta in 1993 with a 40% affordable housing mandate.
Ride on
If transportation problems are keeping you from the polls today, you're in luck. In honor of election day, all rides on the Santa Fe Trails are free! Moreover, you can now use Google Maps to plan your trip. The city's transit department recently joined the other transit divisions around the state on Google Maps, meaning users can enter their starting and end points, along with their time of travel, and find out their options.
Insert Orwellian pun here
Conduct a news search of Orwell or Orwellian at any given time—right now, if you please—and the results will likely be prodigious. The author's depiction of The Ministry of Truth in 1984 has had particular resonance in the here and now, for example. "George Orwell: His Enduring Legacy," running through April at the University of New Mexico's Zimmerman Library, examines Orwell's work and life, including numerous rare editions of his works. In conjunction with the show, Joaquin Martinez, who teaches AP Psychology and History at The Academy for Technology and the Classics, has developed Orwell lesson plans for middle and high school students.
Trinity talk
The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is hosting Dr. Joseph Shonka this week, who will be giving a presentation on "The First Dirty Bomb, Trinity" around New Mexico. Shonka is a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA) Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a 10-year study focused on the Trinity test. Space is limited for the lectures.
A dry day ahead
Warm and sunny again today, with highs in the mid 60s, and west winds 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. The sun might not come out tomorrow, however, as in Wednesday is predicted to be partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms in the morning.
Thanks for reading! The Word would be a singularly terrible sports writer, given her inability to understand football despite years of patient tutoring by a fanatic friend. All this to say, here's an interesting New Yorker article ($) about Deadspin's demise, and here's a good interview with its former editor and here's a basic roundup if you're not obsessed with journalism stories and missed the whole thing.
