Welcome to our new web site!
To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.
During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.
Early voting in the Nov. 2 local election begins Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the Doña Ana County Government Center, 845 N. Motel Blvd. Alternate early voting locations will open across the county Oct. 16.
With two disqualifications, one withdrawal and two write-ins since filing day on Aug. 24, there are a total of 60 candidates vying for 37 public offices in Doña Ana County in the Nov. 2 local election.
The races include municipal offices in Las Cruces (three city council seats), Mesilla (two town council seats and municipal judge), Anthony (mayor, two city council seats and municipal judge), Sunland Park (three city council seats and municipal judge) and Hatch (mayor and two village council seats); Las Cruces Public Schools (three seats), Gadsden Independent School District (three seats) and Hatch Valley Public Schools (two seats) boards of education; Doña Ana (two seats) and Caballo (two seats) soil and water conservation district boards of supervisors; the Anthony Water and Sanitation Board; the La Union Watershed Board; and the Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority.
With the addition of write-in candidate Gregory Shervanick in District 3, there will be ranked choice voting races on the ballot in Las Cruces City Council districts 3 and 5. Shervanick joins Bev Courtney and Becki Graham on the ballot in District 3. In District 5, the candidates are David Telford, Robert Paquette, Ronnie Sisneros and Becky Corran. There are only two candidates in the District 6 race, incumbent Yvonne Flores and challenger William Beerman, so there will not be ranked choice voting for that seat.
Las Cruces is the only municipality in the county that adopted ranked choice voting. The winners of multi-candidate races in the other municipalities will be the candidates in each race who receive the most votes, whether a majority or a plurality, in a single round of voting.
The City of Las Cruces has an informational video about ranked choice voting at www.las-cruces.org/2499/Ranked-Choice-Voting.
Early voting at the county government building
Doña Ana County Government Center, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Las Cruces (open 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Oct. 5-29 and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30; closed Monday, Oct. 11)
Alternate early voting locations (open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, Oct. 16-30)
Las Cruces City Hall, 700 N. Main St., Las Cruces
Corbett Center Student Union, 1600 International Mall, NMSU, Las Cruces
Sonoma Elementary School, 4201 Northrise Drive, Las Cruces
Mesilla City Hall, 2231 Avenida de Mesilla, Mesilla
Anthony City Hall Municipal Complex, 820 Highway 478, Anthony, New Mexico
DACC-Sunland Park, 3365 McNutt Road, Sunland Park
Delores C. Wright Educational Center, 400 E. Lisa Drive, Chaparral
Hatch High School, 170 E. Herrera Road, Hatch
Other important dates
Thursday, Oct. 28: Last day to request an absentee ballot
Saturday, Oct. 30: Last day of early voting
Tuesday, Nov. 2: Election Day at 40 voting locations open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. across the county
Candidates
Candidates who filed on either filing day, Aug. 24, or write-in filing day, Aug. 31, for offices in Doña Ana County on the Nov. 2 combined local election ballot:
Las Cruces City Council:
Town of Mesilla
Village of Hatch
City of Anthony
City of Sunland Park
Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education
Gadsden Independent School District Board of Education (Doña Ana and Otero counties)
Hatch Valley Public Schools Board of Education
Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors
Caballo Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors (Sierra, Doña Ana and Luna counties)
Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority Board of Directors
The authority “consists of 11 water systems … providing service to 15 colonias communities … south of Las Cruces from Brazito to north end of Anthony, Butterfield Park and Organ on the East Mesa, and Valle Del Rio and High Valley,” according to lrgauthority.org/about-us/.
Anthony Water and Sanitation District Board of Directors
The district was organized Jan. 30. 1978 to “promote the health, safety, prosperity, security and general welfare of the inhabitants of said district,” according to www.awsd.us.
La Union Watershed District Board of Directors
“A watershed is a land area from which precipitation runs off or infiltrates to a stream, river, lake,
or underground aquifer,” according to www.nmda.nmsu.edu.
The La Union Watershed District was established in January 2018 to prevent further flood damage after a dam located above the townsite ruptured in September 2013, according to sites.google.com/launionwatersheddistrict.org/launionwatersheddistrict/home. The district “is operated by five volunteer board members who own property within the water district,” which includes all the town-site area and some surrounding area, totaling 876.52 acres. The district operates under the guidance of the Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District.
McClead Watershed District Board of Supervisors
No candidates filed for two at-large seats.
The district is part of the Caballo Soil and Water Conservation District.
For more information