Ballots set to be mailed

Ballots will be sent out in coming days for the November 4 general election.
For the first time in a San Juan County general election, all of the voting will be by mailed ballot.
San Juan County Clerk Norman Johnson states that voters should begin receiving a ballot in the mail several weeks before the general election.
There is a long list of candidates on the ballot, with the highest number of contested local races in recent memory. In addition, several residents are write-in candidates.
The name of candidate Jean H. Nimrod will be on the ballot for the San Juan School Board, despite Johnson’s concerns that Nimrod is not a resident of the county.
Nimrod is a registered voter in the Oljato precinct and was born at Train Rock, in the Oljato area.
However, an investigation by the San Juan County Sheriff’s office determined that she does not live in the listed residence.Nimrod said she is temporarily living in Kayenta, AZ, where she teaches school.
Under Utah State Law, “Resident” means “a person whose principal place of residence is within a specific voting precinct in Utah.”
In addition, the law states that “a person has not lost the person’s principal place of residence in Utah or a precinct if that person moves to a foreign country, another state, or another voting precinct within Utah, for temporary purposes with the intention of returning.”
Johnson says that several weeks after Nimrod filed as a candidate, he received a letter challenging her residency.
Johnson said officials from the State of Utah voting office recommended that he complete an investigation, so Johnson asked the Sheriff’s office to investigate.
Johnson said the investigation determined that Nimrod is not a resident of San Juan County and had lived in Kayenta for several years.
Nimrod replies she is a resident of San Juan County and, as proof, shows utility payments on her hogan in San Juan County.
She writes, “There is nothing justifying that I am not a resident, I have been paying utilities for years, and I have a sleep units, a functioning kitchen with working electric appliances inside my Hogan, although outside of my home may not be ecstatically pleasing, but it is my house, on my property, and as an American I have a constitutional rights that seem to have been violated by your investigation.”