3 run for 2 board positions

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Three local candidates, one a write-in, are seeking to fill two open seats on the Grants-Cibola County school board in the election on Tuesday.

Cibola County Elections coordinator George Trujillo said he is expecting a low turnout of the 5,500 registered voters in school board districts four and five.

"I am expecting about a 10 percent turnout," he said. "The school board and school district elections are always a low turnout. I don't know why."

District 4
Corley J. Valdez, a candidate for District 4, said the school board was idle for some time but seems to be more active now.

Performance testing for students is a concern to him, and he said he wants to serve because of the amount of training teachers are receiving.

"The more stress you put on a teacher the less teaching there is to the students," he said.

Sharon J. MacKendrick, is a write-in candidate. To vote for her, the name must be spelled exactly as it has been filed with the Cibola County Clerk's office: Sharon J. MacKendrick. The spelling is available at precinct polling locations but must be requested.

MacKendrick is a retired educator. She replaced Robert Murdoch, a former school board member, who dropped out of the race due to time constraints.

District 4 includes San Mateo, Milan, the area north of Milan, Bluewater Village, Bluewater Acres and the southern half of Bluewater Lake. This seat is held by Les Gains, a school teacher, who decided not to run for re-election.

District 5
The only candidate for the District 5 seat is Acoma resident William E. Estevan, a retired teacher. He is seeking board president Lloyd Felipe's seat. Felipe opted not to run for re-election. No write-in candidates have filed for that seat.

District 5 includes all of the Pueblo of Acoma and the Fence Lake area. Those precincts are 5 and 17.

Polling locations
Any registered voter within the two districts may vote. In order to vote registration with the Clerk's office must have been completed by Jan. 2, 2007, Trujillo said.

Absentee voting resulted in eight requested ballots and all eight have been returned as of Thursday. Absentee voting ends today at 5 p.m.

All polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Tuesday.

District 5 precincts are 5 and 17.

District 4 precincts are:

• 2C, Cibola County courthouse
  
• 2D
  
• 3, San Mateo
  
• 4A, North of Milan
  
• 4B, Bluewater Village
  
• 6, Bluewater Acres, the southern half of Bluewater Lake area
  
• 14, the north side of Milan
  
• 15, the rest of Milan